Devil's Backbone
by canadduh
Summary: She's more comfortable around Dean Winchester then she's been around anyone in the last 29 years of her life. And she only recently met the Winchester brothers and trusting people does not come easy to Devin despite what it seems. How big of a part does Devin play in the coming apocalypse and what do the angels want with her now?
1. Devil's Back Bone

"

**"Devil's**_** Backbone"**_

_Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what have I done?_  
><em>I've fallen in love with a man on the run<em>  
><em>Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I'm begging you please<em>  
><em>Don't take that sinner from me<em>  
><em>Oh don't take that sinner from me<em>

_Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what do I do? _  
><em>I've fallen for someone who's nothing like you <em>  
><em>He's raised on the edge of the devil's backbone<em>  
><em>Oh I just wanna take him home<em>  
><em>Oh I just wanna take him home<em>  
><em>Ooooooooooo<em>  
><em>Ooooooooooo<em>

_Oh Lord, Oh Lord, he's somewhere between_  
><em>A hangman's knot, and three mouths to feed<em>  
><em>There wasn't a wrong or a right he could choose<em>  
><em>He did what he had to do<em>  
><em>Oh he did what he had to do<em>  
><em>Ooooooooooo<em>  
><em>Ooooooooooo<em>

_Give me the burden, give me the blame_  
><em>I'll shoulder the load, and I'll swallow the shame<em>  
><em>Give me the burden, give me the blame<em>  
><em>How many, how many Hail Marys is it gonna take? <em>

_Don't care if he's guilty, don't care if he's not_  
><em>He's good and he's bad and he's all that I've got<em>  
><em>Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I'm begging you please<em>  
><em>Don't take that sinner from me<em>  
><em>Oh don't take that sinner from me<em>

_"_

_-The Civil Wars_


	2. Kingdom Come

_"Run, run, run away  
><em>_Buy yourself another day  
><em>_A Cold wind's whispering secrets in your ear  
><em>_So low and only you can hear  
><em>_Run, run, run and hide  
><em>_Somewhere no one else can find  
><em>_Tall trees bend their leaves pointing where to go  
><em>_Where you will still be alone"_

-Kingdom Come, The Civil Wars

* * *

><p>When you're on the run you tend to be very jumpy. I hadn't meant to shoot at him, really I hadn't. But I've been on the run for three, maybe four, months and having someone sneak up on me like he had caused me to shoot.<p>

Luckily for the man in front of me I wasn't really a good shot under pressure. Now, when I had time to aim and shoot I hit the target 99% of the time. He moved to disarm me and I jumped back this time aiming the gun. I was aiming at his shoulder, I wasn't going to kill him, yet.

"Whoa, whoa" The man said raising his hand, "Just put the gun down." He was young but I could see that he'd been through a lot. He had green eyes and as wearing a leather jacket over a gray shirt. His hair is brown and cut military short.

"Who are you?" I asked, my hands starting to shake. I did not do well under pressure. It's actually surprising that I had survived this long.

"Dean, Dean Winchester," Dean said. I'd heard the name before but I'd only heard little bits about the man.

I heard a noise behind me and froze for a moment before I spun around looking behind me just as someone jumped for the gun. I shot. Lucky for him I didn't magically become a good shot under pressure. The other man got the gun and had me pinned on the ground in under two seconds. I have to say I was impressed.

"Who are you?" The man asked, repeating my question from earlier. This man was older and was wearing a baseball cap, and a vest over a worn shirt and worn jeans.

"Devin," I said then I started coughing, the man was heavy and he had a knee pressed to my back. I felt the pressure on my back let up and I was able to start breathing again. I remembered hearing a bit about Dean and guessed that the man with him would be Bobby Singer.

"Gotta last name, Devin?" Dean asked. I could hear him kneeling beside me.

"Yup," I said popping the 'p' "and I'll share it when I'm not lying on a cement floor. I think you guys broke my wrist."

I blinked when Dean thrusted a flask in front of me. It was holy water, I knew that. I grabbed the flask and drank. I enjoyed holy water, made me feel clean. I kept a supply of it in the trunk of my car. Half of it was for hunts the other half for myself.

Dean had to pull the flask away from me before I'd emptied it. The man got off my back and then helped me up. I smiled a little and then dusted off my clothes. I was wearing dirty jeans and a slightly torn blood splattered shirt, not my own blood. I wasn't actually sure whose blood it was. I hadn't been able to change in the last twelve hours.

"Okay, you're off the ground, who are you?" Dean grunted. I ignored him and gestured to the flask raising an eyebrow. Dean sighed then took a drink cringing a little. He handed the flask to Bobby and the other man did the same.

"Devin Quinn Ahearn." I said with a grin, holding my left hand out to Dean. My right hand really did feel like it was broken, I wouldn't even be able to get a cast for it.

"Well, Devin, what exactly are you doing here?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrow and shaking my hand.

"I thought I'd have a tea party," I quipped. Dean grinned a little bit but Bobby frowned, "It's a joke, lighten up. I'm obviously a hunter, Bobby."

"How do you know my name?" Sam tensed and I shrugged, trying not a smirk.

"In this business word gets around." I explained, "I know things. I'm a friend of Jo and Ellen, Jo spoke highly of the three of you."

"She's never mentioned you." Dean pointed out, crossing his arms.

"Some things aren't worth mentioning," I said with a shrug, "Like how exactly do you tell someone, 'hey I have this friend but I can't tell you anything about her' do you see how that might be a little awkward to bring up, Dean?"

Dean nodded, "Okay ya, but Bobby and I have things to do so you need to leave."

"No." I said, not liking Dean ordering me around. Sure he'd survived worse than me but I had found the place first and it had been a nice hideout for that week.

"No?" Dean asked raising his brow.

I shrugged, moving so that I was sitting on the sole table in the barn that we were occupying. There were double doors opposite where I was and Bobby and Dean just stared at me.

"I would think that you'd have better hearing than that." I quipped, no less agitated than I was moments ago, "I'm not leaving. I found this place first and whatever you need to do you either have to do with me here or you have to find somewhere else."

Dean glared at me before turning to Bobby. "Let's go Bobby." He said.

Bobby shook his head, "Dean, I'd feel better with more than us here. Besides, she probably won't get in the way and she could help us with some of the grunt work."

"Fine," Dean said before turning to me and threatened me, "but if you so much as get in our way you're outta here."

"Deal," I said with a grimace cradling my arm against my chest, "Just tell me what to do and it'll be done, no complaints." I thought for a moment before adding, "as long as I don't have to leave this room."

Dean nodded and half an hour later we're ready to begin, whatever it was they had planned on doing. I sit on the table by Bobby with my gun in my lap and a knife in my left hand. Bobby was also holding a gun and a vial of holy water. I had a flask of holy water next to me and had been drinking that throughout the night.

"So what exactly is it that we're summoning?" I asked watching Dean closely

"Honestly, we have no idea." Dean replied and I groaned

"Great." I muttered, Dean glared at me but I just shrugged and he turned away.

"Let's get this over with," Bobby almost begged. I have to say that I did agree with him. The summoning vigils did put me on edge.

"You sure you did the ritual right?" I asked when nothing happened after Dean was done. He glared at me and I threw my arms up in an 'I surrender' manner, "Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?"

After two more minutes the wind began to howl. I jumped and Bobby swirled around raising the gun he held. I ducked in case he decided to shoot and hit me. The roof of the barn started banging around and I bit back a scream.

"Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind." Dean commented and I rolled my eyes.

After a couple more minutes of just wind and the lights in the barn going out everything went quiet. Then the door was thrown opening to a blinding light that had all three of us covering our eyes. After a few moments I was able to open one eye. I still couldn't see who was there only an outline.

"Who are you?" Dean asked the shadow.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." The shadow replied. The light was fading to reveal a man, maybe around the age of 35. He was wearing a trench coat over what looked like pajamas

"Yeah." Dean said, "Thanks for that."

Dean shot at the man and the man just stood there, nothing happened

"We need to talk, Dean." The man said walking closer to us. He didn't even flinch when Dean stabbed him with a knife. Bobby went to hit him with an iron rod and the man reached out to touch his forehead and Bobby crumpled to the ground. "Alone." The man added

Dean started to go towards Bobby when the man stopped him. I crawled towards Bobby to check his pulse.

"Your friend is alive." The man told Dean, I nodded in confirmation and Dean let out a relieved sigh.

"Who are you?" Dean asked still pointing a gun at the man.

"Castiel." The man replied with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, I figured that much." Dean bit out. "I mean what are you?"

"I'm an angel of the lord." Castiel said and I froze. Just as quickly I began backing away from Dean and Castiel, this angel scared the living daylights out of me.

"Get the hell out of here." Dean growled, "There's no such thing."

"This is your problem, Dean." Castiel said with a tilt to his head, giving Dean puppy dog eyes, "You have no faith."

"Some angel you are." Dean quipped, "You burned out that poor woman's eyes."

"I warned her not to spy on my true form." Castiel shrugged, the bastard burn someone's eyes out and he was shrugging about it, "It can be overwhelming to humans And so can my real voice. But you already knew that."

"You mean the gas station and the motel?" Dean asked, "That was you talking? Buddy, next time, lower the volume."

"That was my mistake." Castiel apologized, "Certain people - Special people" He looked back at me and I stopped moving back and cringed, "-Can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong."

"And what visage are you in now, huh?" Dean asked, "What - Holy tax accountant?"

"This? This is-" Castiel paused, trying to figure out the right way to explain that he had used someone's faith against them, "a vessel." He ended simply.

"You're possessing some poor bastard?" Dean questioned.

"He's a devout man." Castiel remarked, "He actually prayed for this."

"Look, pal, I'm not buying what you're selling." Dean said "So who are you, really?"

"I told you." Castiel said, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion, "And Devin could also tell you."

I glared at the angel for bringing me into this. Dean looked at me for a long moment before he turned back to Castiel. Then Castiel raised his arms and did that angel thing where he made lightning flash (inside the building, mind you) so that there was the shadow of his wings were on the walls of the building.

"Right." Dean said finally believe Castiel, even if only a little bit. "And why would an angel rescue me from hell?"

I looked at Dean, the man had been to hell? And made it back out? Holy shit.

"Good things do happen, Dean." The angel said

"Not in my experience." Dean said.

"What's the matter?" Castiel asked, "You don't think you deserve to be saved."

"Why'd you do it?" Dean asked.

"Because god commanded it." Castiel said. "Because we have work for you." He added after a moment.

Heaven having work for you was never a good thing. I'd feel bad for Dean if I wasn't in a similar position. I had no clue which one of us had it worse. With the Demons I'd had to deal with everything was cut and dry, angels could be very finicky.

Castiel turned to me and I glared at him. He tilted his head and squinted before finally nodding.

"You're clean now, Devin." Castiel remarked and I laughed shortly.

"No shit." I said, feeling Dean's eyes on me. I knew that the man would be suspicious but I never asked to know the angel in front of me, "and also no thanks to you."

Castiel frowned, "I did not mean to abandon you."

"Yeah, well you did." I growled, standing up. "And I suffered because of it, for five years. I had to get myself out."

Castiel backed up as I stalked over to him. With long red hair, green eyes and pale skin with a dash of freckles and considering I only stood at 5'4" I may not be the most threatening figure out there but damn I could be scary when I needed to be. Or at least I've been told as much.

"Five years, Castiel." I said angrily, "You were supposed to protect me. I was possessed because of your lack of vigilance." I was yelling now but I didn't care, I was pissed, "You claim you're a soldier for Heaven but you left me to fight on my own. I was only able to escape four months ago because Azazel was finished with me." I took a calming breath when I heard Bobby groan behind me, "I'm lucky to be alive" I added quietly.

"I'm sorry." Castiel started but I held up a hand.

"No," I said tiredly, "don't you dare apologize, what's done is done. You obviously have new orders. Just don't mention it anymore."

Castiel nodded and then there were the sound of wings as he disappeared. After I second I looked at Dean who was helping Bobby stand up. My nerves were shot and I really didn't want to be here anymore.

I started walking out of the building when Bobby's voice stopped me.

"Wait," Bobby said, "You obviously know something. Do you want to come with us, we could use your help."

I paused for a moment, thinking it through. I would be safer with these two hunters than I would have been on my own. I nodded and Bobby looked relieved.

I walked back over and started picking things up, shoving them in the bag that Dean had brought. When that was done Dean grabbed the bag, Bobby was already in Dean's car, and I grabbed my duffel bag. I followed Dean's impala in my fancy purple 2000 dodge neon, the only car I've ever been able to afford.

When we got to the Singer auto yard I unloaded my car and brought both of my duffle bags and the bag containing my supply of holy water inside. Bobby had me set everything by the couch before he went to prepare some food. I sat on the couch and Dean grabbed a chair from the dining room and sat across the room from me, watching me.

"What," I said defensively after a few minutes.

"How do you know Castiel?" Dean asked after a few more moments.

I shrugged, "It's not by choice, I don't trust the bastard right now." I said simply.

"That doesn't tell me how you know him," Dean remarked gruffly.

I squinted at Dean before sighing, the man looked like he was freaked and I didn't blame him, he had been to hell. Even Azazel had been afraid of hell.

"About ten years ago Hell caught wind of a rogue hunter that was killing cross road demons, my dad, and they came to kill them, and they kidnapped me. Heaven sent angels to save me, apparently I'm important or some shit like that," I laugh humorlessly, "Castiel was one of them. He told me that he would be my guardian from then on. He'd come whenever I was in trouble. Then suddenly five years ago there was nothing. I was on a hunt, it was supposed to be a routine salt and burn, when everything that could go wrong did." I ran my hands through my red hair and sighed, "I was salting the body of a nurse who was kidnapping children to 'take care of', by which I mean kill, when suddenly there was someone standing next to me. A man with yellow eyes. I'd called for Castiel but he hadn't responded. The demon then possessed me. And for the last five years, up until four month ago, I've been either possessed of shut into a room with no doors or windows, hardly even any air."

"Shit man." Dean said.

I nodded my agreement then stood when Bobby called that food was ready. We ate our burgers in silence and after words I go back to the couch and turn on the TV. Flipping through the channels I find nothing interesting instead I settled on finding something mind numbing. So I stop on the channel playing Dr. Sexy MD because I've seen the show before and while not ideal it was still mind numbing enough that I won't have to think about anything.

Dean sat on the opposite side of the couch and watched the show with rapture. I smiled at him before grabbing a pillow and snuggling it. After a few minutes I fall asleep and miss Dean watching me.

When I woke up there was another man in the living room and I flailed a bit reaching for where I usually put my gun but I get caught in a blanket that's wrapped around my shoulders and fall to the floor. The man chuckled and I glared at him before sitting up and acting like I'd meant to do that.

I stood up and stalked past the man into the kitchen where I searched for a glass to put some of my holy water in. I walked out to see the man in my spot on the couch and I glare at him as I went to my bag to grab one of the bottles of holy water. I pour half of the contents into the glass before putting the bottle back.

I sat on the floor with my back against the wall still glaring at the other man. I got up when I finished my glass and went back to the kitchen to put it in the sink. I heard voices off to the side and walk out to see Dean and Bobby arguing.

"Well, then tell me what else it could be." Bobby said as I walked into the room

"Look, all I know is I was not groped by an angel." Dean said looking over his shoulder at me.

"Okay, look, Dean." Bobby sighed, "Why do you think this Castiel would lie to you about it?"

"Maybe he's some kind of demon." Dean said "Demons lie"

"A demon who's immune to salt rounds and devil's traps and ruby's knife?" I remembered the inscriptions on the knife that Dean had stabbed Castiel with, it would kill a demon but not an angel, "Dean, Lilith is scared of that thing!"

"Don't you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one at some point ever?" Dean asked. I cleared my throat and Dean turned to look at me again

"Yeah" I said "You just did, dean. And I did tell you that I've met angels before, or did you think that I was lying?"

"I'm trying to come up with a theory here." Dean remarked, "Okay? Work with me."

"Dean, we have a theory." I said, "It's actually past the point of theory and on the way to joining the laws."

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please." Dean pleaded, I raised an eyebrow

"Okay, look." I said, "You can believe it or not but what other explanation is there."

"We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freaking angel of the lord because it says so!"

"You two chuckleheads want to keep arguing religion," Bobby asked us and I turned from Dean with a huff as the other man walked into the room, "Or do you want to come take a look at this? I got stacks of lore - Biblical, pre-Biblical. Some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit."

"What else?" Dean asked

"What else, what?" Bobby said

"What else could do it?" Dean reiterated

"Airlift your ass out of the hot box? As far as I can tell, nothing." Bobby said, looking at me for confirmation.

"Well angels can also exterminate demons, and pretty much any other creature, but yea, lifting out of the hotbox is a pretty big deal." I said

"Dean, this is good news." The other man said

"How?" Dean asked, turning to the other man

"Because for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap." The man explained, "I mean, maybe you were saved"

"Okay. Say it's true." Dean said

"It's true," I said, earning a glare from Dean but otherwise getting ignored.

"Say there are angels." Dean continued sounding distressed, "Then what? There's a god?"

"At this point, Vegas money's on yeah." The man said

"I don't know, guys." Dean said skeptically

"Okay, look." Bobby started, "I know you're not all choirboy about this stuff, But this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof."

"Proof?" Dean asked

"Yes." I interrupted, "Proof that there's a god out there"

"That actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it."

"Why not?" I asked

"Because why me? If there is a god out there, why would he give a crap about me?"

"Dean-" The other man said but Dean continued

"I mean, I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing but why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy."

"Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs." I said with a small smile

"Well, that creeps me out." Dean said

"As it should," I intoned

"I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by god." Dean continued, ignoring me again.

"Okay, well, too bad, Dean, because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat." The man said with a smirk

"All right. What do we know about angels?" Dean said turning to me, I shrugged, I didn't actually know that much,

"Start reading." Bobby said, pointing to a large stack of books.

"You're gonna get me some pie." Dean said, turning to the other man who nodded then walked out the door.

I walked over to the stack and picked up five of the books then went to the dining room table to started reading. Dean joined me after a few more words with Bobby. We read in silence for a while before I stood and stretched. I looked at the clock and realized that I hadn't eaten and I doubted that Bobby and Dean had either.

I walked into the kitchen and started going through the cupboards and the fridge and freezer looking for something that I could make.

"You sure made yourself at home." Dean commented, making me jump. I looked over and saw the bastard leaning against the door frame with a smug smile on his face.

I looked back to the fridge and shrugged, pulling a carton of eggs and a precooked chicken out of the fridge, "Yeah, well when you live the way I have you learn that there's no point in feeling awkward in a new place. Can you get me a large pan and fill it with water?"

Dean moved into the kitchen and went through a cupboard before pulling out a pot, "This good enough?" He asked and then he went to fill it with water as I nodded.

When the pot was on the stove I dropped the chicken in then grabbed some flour, salt and the other ingredients I would need for noodles. I handed Dean the carton of eggs and he gave me a look that said 'what do I do with these', I laughed.

"Make some eggs, this is gonna take a couple hours," I chuckled at the look on his face, "I like mine scrambled with bacon bits."

Dean shrugged and went to make the eggs as Bobby walked in.

"So domestic," He commented, moving past me to the fridge. I grinned when Dean groaned at the older man.

"Well I wanted food and Dean was in the way do I put him to work." I explained, "I'm making Chicken noodle soup because it's good and it lasts a long time."

I finished up the noodles and Dean and Bobby talked about angels. I was walking over to the fridge to pull out some vegetables when I heard a low pitched howl outside. I turned on my heel and ran outside, Dean and Bobby on my heels.

On the front porch of Bobby's house there was an Australian Hound panting and getting ready for another howl. I dropped right in front of the dog and threw my arms around it as she licked my face sloppily. I grinned and started checking the animal for fleas or ticks. Unsurprisingly she had none.

"Devin, who is this," Bobby asked as the dog wriggled out of my grip and jumped on Bobby.

"That's Adrasteia," I told them as the dog moved from Bobby to Dean, who knelt to pet the dog with a smile, "She's been with me for the last four months, always manages to find me no matter where I go, it's rather amazing."

I heard a yowl behind me and turned to see a cat saunter up the stairs. He stopped in front of me and I picked him up, smiling. The cat started purring and rubbing his head against my shoulder before he climbed on and made himself at home, effectively becoming a scarf.

"And who is that?" Dean asked with a grin.

"This is Stygian," I said as Adrasteia came to sit by my feet, "I've had him since Castiel and the rest of the angels saved me the first time."

"Saved you?" Bobby asked and Dean said, "You named a cat after the guardian of the river leading into hell, who, I might add, is a demon."

"I'll explain later, after lunch, Bobby," I said with a smile to the older man, "and I didn't name him. He told me his name."

"What?" Dean asked, looking shocked.

"I'm saying that he is actually the guardian of the river Styx."

"What?" Dean asked again, even more shocked.

Stygian stood up with his back legs on my shoulder and his front paws resting on my head and started mewling at the two grown men. I smiled at the cat and Adrasteia whuffed.

"He's saying that if you two don't stop questioning me he's going to do… something… about it." I smiled

"Something?" Bobby asked, "Girl, you've got some weird friends."

"Tell me about it," I said, removing Stygian from my head and giving Adra a pat on the head.

I went back inside, the animals following me, much to the protest of Bobby.

"I would assume that the effective guardian of hell is potty trained." I told Bobby who guffawed.

I walked into the kitchen with a smirk as Stygian purred in my ear. I got out the vegetables I needed and pulled the chicken out of the brother I'd made to tear it apart and check for any bones that it had. Dean handed me some eggs after a couple minutes and I ate those as I worked.

Dean and I started talking and I found that we had a lot in common. Both of our dads had been hunters. While his mom had been killed by a demon mine had died giving birth to me. My dad had trained me from a young age, as had Dean's dad. While Dean had a younger brother I had been an only child.

"So when I was ten he was taking me to the Roadhouse to stay with Ellen and Jo for a week when he gets this call. And we had to detour to a circus. He takes one look at a clown and turns around screaming. Ellen had to send another group to take care of the clowns." I told Dean as I stirred the soup to make sure that it didn't burn.

"Dean!" Bobby yelled from where he was reading more about angels. Dean gave me a look then went to see what Bobby needed. I removed the soup from the heat and followed.

I walked into the living room to see Bobby putting on his coat. I watched as Adrasteia walks over to him and whined. That dog has never gotten close to someone that fast. Even with me she took a month to let me approach her.

"You coming with, or staying here?" Dean asked, watching me.

"You'd really trust someone you met yesterday in your house without you being here?" I asked, slightly shocked, they did not seem like trusting people, "I'm coming with."

"Good point," Dean said with a shrug.

I got my things together and followed Dean out of the house just as Sam drove up.

"Keep the engine running." Sam told Dean as Sam got out of the Car.

"Why? What's going on?" Sam asked, looking around at the three of us.

"I got a friend one state over - Olivia Lowry." Bobby explained, "I've been trying to reach her for three days on this angel thing. It's not like her to ignore this many calls."

"Olivia Lowry - A hunter, right?" I asked, the name sounding familiar

"Yeah." Bobby said, "We're gonna go check on her. You guys follow me."

"Scoot over." Dean told Sam as I got in the back seat with Adrasteia and Stygian.

"They better not get hair all over my car," Dean said as Sam handed him a bag

"Yeah. Yeah," I replied rolling my eyes.

"Dude?" Dean said to Sam

"Yeah?"

"Where's the pie?"

I laughed and the boys looked back at me before they both shrugged and Dean started driving.

Then I noticed that Stygian was hissing silently at Sam and Adrasteia looked like she was going to jump the man any moment. They only got like this around Demons.

"Sam," I said taking a flask out of the bag next to me, "Drink this, I need to check something."

"You think my brother's possessed or something?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"I don't know what I think of your brother," I said, not taking my eyes off the younger man.

"Fair enough." Dean said as Sam took a drink of the holy water.

Nothing happened so I relaxed. Whatever my animals were sensing we could deal with it later. After that it took me an hour to calm Stygian and Adrasteia down so that they would sleep. After I did that I slept myself but woke up after only an hour covered in sweat.

Dean looked at me in the review and I smiled at him, albeit a bit forced on my part but I did just have a dream that Azazel had me again so I can't be blamed. I sat up and leaned my chin against his seat watching the scenery through the front window.

"Bad dream?" Dean asked after a moment.

"Yeah," I replied, "Last night was the first time I haven't had one in the last four months."

"Sucks man. But I understand the feeling." Dean said with a shake of his head.

"Hell?" I asked, laying my head down on my arms.

"Yeah," Dean said, "Although it's only been three days since I got back I haven't been sleeping much."

I nod in understanding, "If you need someone to talk to I'm probably not going anywhere for a while. And I won't even talk if you don't want me too."

"Same goes for you," Dean told me smirking. I smiled and sat back in my seat pulling Adrasteia into my lap as Stygian crawled onto my shoulders. I relaxed and let sleep take me again, this time sleeping better than I had before.

Dean shook my shoulder when we arrived at Olivia's house and I was instantly awake. Stygian was hissing and Adrasteia was outright growling. They put everyone on edge and I stayed in the car with them as Dean, Sam and Bobby went to check out the house.

"What is it, Styg?" I asked the cat who gave me a cat shrug. He didn't know. That couldn't bode well.

"Something's up, huh?" I asked, sticking my head out the open window.

"You think?" Bobby replied sarcastically as Dean came out of the house talking on his phone

"Jed, Dean Winchester again-" Dean was saying, "Friend of bobby singer's. Look, we think something's happening. We think it's happening to hunters. Just want to make sure you're okay. Call me back."

Bobby got in his car shortly after the head back to the yard and I went with him. When we got there I finished the soup and then started on some pie for dessert. Bobby made phone calls to people he knew while Dean and Sam drove around to check on those people.

I put the pie in the oven then walked over to the desk that Bobby was sitting at. The man looked tired so I took the empty glass of Brandy he had in front of him and refilled it. I took a seat across from Bobby and Stygian jumped up on the man's shoulders, wrapping himself around the man's neck, and started purring loudly.

Bobby got a call at that moment and I stood up to go check on the pie. There were another 45 minutes until it was done but I always made sure to check. I grabbed a bowl of my soup for myself and another one for Bobby and brought it to the man. Sitting across from him again I dig into the soup. I'm not ashamed to admit I moaned a little bit. It's the first home cooked meal I've had in five years.

Bobby looked up at me and I smiled sheepishly before I controlled my eating habits and ate with more dignity than I possessed at that moment. After I finished I covered the pot and put it in the fridge. I gave Adrasteia some of the meat I didn't use and put a bowl of water on the ground for her.

I pulled the pie out of the oven and had set it down on an oven mitt when the lights started to flicker. I looked around for Bobby who was walking around with an iron rod. I followed Bobby into the back of the house to the stairs until I heard a voice behind me.

"It's your fault." The voice said. I spun around, gaping as Stygian started hissing right next to me.

In front of me was a young woman, around the age of 26, with long brown hair and a horribly misshapen nose. I recognized the woman from my Demon Day's, as I'd been calling them. She was one of the woman I'd tortured, well my body, when Azazel was possessing me.

"You did this to me!" The woman yells.

"No I didn't," I muttered quietly

"Yes you did!" The woman stalks towards me and I cringe, "you knew the demons would be after you. You knew it but you never protected yourself."

"I was scared ok." I yelled, "I was afraid that it wouldn't work"

"But you never tried." The spirit said.

"I know." I whispered sitting down on the stairs and staring at the woman. "I made a mistake but don't you think that I've paid for it by now?"

"No." The woman says, "You won't pay for it until you're dead. "

I sat there, not really paying attention to the woman, as Stygian and Adrasteia hissed and growled at the woman. She didn't get closer to me but she also didn't leave me alone. After what felt like days but was probably only a couple hours I heard Dean and Sam enter the house. \

They go to find Bobby and me and I can tell that they're fighting their own spirits to I move to find one of them. The spirit backs away as Stygian moves towards it and I find Dean in the living room. I ran to his side and he looked relieved.

I saw what he was looking at and I cringed. Meg Masters. I may have been possessed at the time but I was the reason Meg got possessed, I had pointed her out to the Demon Meg. I motioned for Stygian to stay by the door, hoping that he would follow my orders for once

"Now, I was awake." Meg said, ignoring my presence, "I had to watch while she murdered people."

"I'm sorry." Dean said

"Oh, yeah? So sorry you had me thrown off a building."

"Well, we thought" Dean tried to explain and I stepped in front of him.

Meg kept yelling at Dean and Dean kept replying. I tried to interrupt but both of them ignored me. I was getting tired of being ignored.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be ridden for months by pure evil while your family has no idea what happened to you?" Meg asked and I snapped.

"Shut up, Meg." I yelled

We found Bobby and Sam and then went to the library. Stygian was able to keep the spirits at bay but I had no idea how long he could do so

"So, they're all people we know?" I asked looking at Bobby after he explained a little bit of what he knew.

"Not just know." Bobby emphasized, "People we couldn't save."

"Hey, I saw something on meg." Dean said and I turned to him, "Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

"I don't think so." Sam said at the same time that I said, "No"

"It was like a- A mark on her hand - Almost like a brand." Dean explained, I'd seen the same thing on the woman that I couldn't save.

"I saw a mark, too, on Henriksen." Sam said

"What did it look like?" Bobby asked

"Uh, paper?" Sam said, looking around. I grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Sam, "Thanks." He said as he drew the tattoo.

"That's it." I said, looking at Sam's drawing

"I may have seen this before." Bobby said before looking through books in the library and grabbing one of them before he looked at us

"We got to move." Bobby said grabbing Dean who was closest to him, "Follow me."

"Okay." Sam said following Bobby and Dean

"Where are we going?" I asked as we went down the stairs and into the basement

"Some place safe, you idiot." Bobby said and I rolled my eyes, because that explained a lot.

Stygian froze when we reached the room as though he couldn't go further. "Bobby, is this Solid iron." I asked as Stygian nodded his head at me to enter the room. I closed the door after Adrasteia entered and turned to Bobby, waiting for his answer.

"Completely coated in salt." Bobby nodded at me.

The room was large enough for a desk and a cot and could fit the four or us comfortably. Adrasteia was already laying on the cot and I walked over to sit by her.

"You built a panic room?" Sam asked.

"I had a weekend off." Bobby said, like that explained the panic room.

"Bobby." Dean said

"What?" Bobby asked suspiciously looking up from the book he was going through.

"You're awesome." Dean finished and I laughed, damn it felt good to laugh.

"See, this is why I can't get behind god." Dean said suddenly and I looked at him raising an eyebrow

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, sitting on the chair by the desk that Bobby was at

"If he doesn't exist, fine." Dean explained, "Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason - Just random, horrible, evil - I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself? You know, why doesn't he help?"

"I ain't touching this one with a 10-Foot pole." Sam said and I chuckled.

"Yeah." Dean sighed

"Found it." Bobby said after a moment

"What?" Dean asked walking over to Bobby.

"The symbol you saw-" Bobby said

"The brand on the ghosts yeah?" I asked, just making sure I was on track, Bobby nodded.

"Mark of the witness." Bobby said, and I paled.

"Witness? Witness to what?" Sam asked

"The unnatural." Bobby said "None of them died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts - They were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They were like rabid dogs. It ain't their fault. Someone rose them on purpose."

"Who?" Dean asked

"Do I look like I know?" Bobby asked raising an eyebrow, "But whoever it was used a spell so powerful it left a mark, a brand on their souls. Whoever did this had big plans. It's called "the rising of the witnesses. It figures into an ancient prophecy."

"Wait, wait." Dean demanded, "What - What book is that prophecy from?"

"Well, the widely distributed version's Just for tourists, you know." Bobby explained, "But long story short - Revelations. This is a sign, boys."

"A sign of what?" Sam and Dean asked at the same time.

"The apocalypse." Bobby stated

"Apocalypse?" Sam blanched

"The apocalypse, apocalypse?" Dean asked, "The four horsemen, pestilence, $5-A-Gallon-Gas apocalypse?"

"That's the one." Bobby explained "The rise of the witnesses is a mile marker."

"Okay, so, what do we do now?" I asked getting up from my spot petting Adrasteia and walking over to the desk to read over Bobby's shoulder.

"Road trip." Dean said "Grand canyon, star trek experience. Bunny ranch."

"First things first." Sam said, "How about we survive our friends out there?"

"Great." Dean groaned, "Any ideas aside from staying in this room until judgment day?"

"It's a spell to send the witnesses back to rest." Bobby said "Should work"

"Should" Dean repeated, "Great."

"If I translate it correctly. I think I got everything we need here at the house."

"Any chance you got everything we need here in this room?" Dean asked hopefully

"So, you thought our luck was gonna start now All of a sudden?" Bobby asked, "Spell's got to be cast over an open fire."

"The fireplace in the library." I said

"Bingo." Bobby replied

"That's just not as appealing as a ghost-Proof panic room, you know?" Dean added

"Cover each other." Bobby said when all of us were ready to leave the room, "And aim careful. Don't run out of ammo until I'm done, or they'll shred you. Ready?"

I stayed with Bobby so that he could work on the spell without having to worry about the spirits bugging him. Stygian was on my shoulders again in his favorite scarf position and I was sitting on the chair off to the side of the fireplace, reading out the ingredients to Bobby who told the boys where everything was located.

"Bobby, you walked right by us while that monster ate us all up," Two girls were standing on the other side of the salt line that Dean and Sam had laid out.

Bobby stopped working and Stygian jumped off my shoulder and onto Bobby's

"It's okay Bobby, keep working." I said to the man. I stood up and grabbed the gun that Bobby had in his hand. I shot at the girls and they disappeared, "The sooner you finish the sooner we'll be through this."

As I said that Dean and Sam came back to the library handing Bobby the rest of the stuff that they needed. The wind started to howl and the spirits were appearing left and right. Spot one- Shoot. Spot another- shoot. This continued for a couple minutes. I stayed by Bobby covering him when I heard a crash and a grunt to my right.

I turned and saw Sam caught behind a desk and the two girls were climbing on it. I shot at them and that was when Meg got to Bobby. I froze and stared in horror. Bobby dropped the bowl he was holding and yelled for Dean.

"Dean," Bobby yelled, "The fire."

Dean caught the bowl and dumped the contents into the fire. A bright blue light flashed and I shielded my eyes. When the light faded Bobby was on the floor and I ran to him as Stygian jumped off my shoulder and ran out of the room. I didn't question the cat anymore. Adrasteia started licking Bobby's face and the man started moaning.

"Heel." I called to Adrasteia who ran over to me panting her enjoyment. "At least one of us enjoyed this," I said to the dog as Dean and Sam helped Bobby stand up.

They led the man to the kitchen and I went in and pulled the soup and pie out of the fridge. I put the soup on the stove and put the pie in the oven then went to get some holy water for myself.

The office was a mess and the living wasn't any better. There was a hole in my bag and I went to it and found that all of my holy water had been emptied. I flopped on the ground and didn't move until Adrasteia nudged her head under my left arm. I started petting her absently and stared at the empty flasks in front of me. I had more in my car but that was my hunting supply.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asked, crouching down in front of me.

I blinked at him before gesturing to the empty flasks, "my holy water," I said weakly, "That took me three months to get."

Dean chuckled and I glared at him. Three months may not seem that bad to him but I'd felt like slime that entire time. Then again… Dean had been to hell. And if what I'd heard was true one month was a decade in hell.

"I have more but I can't use that. It's for hunts." I explained, sounding like a spoilt child and not caring.

Dean chuckled and then helped me stand up, "Bobby has a supply in the house, and I'll get you some nice holy water to have with dinner." He said before walking out of the living room and towards the office.

I went back into the kitchen with a smile on my face and pulled the pie from the oven before turning the heat off on the soup. I grabbed some bowls from one of the cupboards and dished out the soup for everyone.

When I turned around Dean was eyeing the pie and I raised an eyebrow at him, "I know you're a grown adult and all but you're gonna eat your dinner first." I told him and he looked at me with a cocky grin, "and if you don't I'll never make pie again."

Obviously Dean had a love of pie and like I thought it would my threat had worked. I had Dean help me bring the bowls out to Sam and Bobby and then took my place by Bobby and dug into the soup. It tasted just as good as I remembered it. Dean handed me a flask then and I smiled at him.

"You know," I said after my last spoonful of the soup, "I'd never thought you guys would be so trusting of me so quickly."

"You make damn good soup," Dean grunted after he swallowed, he was on his third bowl.

Bobby shook his head at Dean before turning to me, "Mostly it was necessity but you've obviously been through a lot and I think this is the best place for you to be. Believe me, we're not actually that trusting."

I nodded and decided to let well enough go. I stood and took the empty bowls to the kitchen and put them in the sink. Then I grabbed plates from the same cupboard that held the bowls and sliced into the pie. The aroma of apple pie hit me like a brick and my mouth started to water, Dean wasn't the only one who liked a good pie.

I put a slice on each of the four plates and brought it out to the men. They dug in with a gusto that had me laughing like a hyena. Sam stared at me for a bit before shrugging and continuing to devour the pie.

Dean moaned, "This is the best pie I've had in years."

I smiled at him and then yawned, "Bunny farm?" I asked Dean with a grin.

Dean grimaced before reply, his mouth full of food, "I've never been to one,"

"I know a good one in Alabama," I told him, "We could stop by it some time?"

I smiled when he nodded and stood up grabbing all the plates. I put the plates in the sink and then went back to the dining room and grabbed the flask with holy water. I took a swig of the water and the feeling of the holy water in my mouth was wonderful after the day I'd had.

I sat on the floor in front of the couch and flicked the TV on flipping through channels for a bit before stopping on Dr. Sexy MD again. The show was able to distract me for a little while before I nodded off, curled on up against the couch.

I woke up a couple hours later to the sound of wings. I blinked and moved Stygian and Adrasteia away from me before standing. I looked at Sam on the couch before noticing two men in the kitchen, Cas and Dean are in the kitchen and I can tell that Dean was angry at the angel. I was too.

I walk into the kitchen with Stygian wrapped around my neck. I smiled at Castiel then went to the fridge where I had put the holy water that Bobby had given me after dinner. I poured the stuff in a glass and walked back to Dean before Castiel spoke.

"Excellent job with the witnesses."

"You were hip to all this?" Dean asked

"I was, uh, made aware." Cas said awkwardly

"Well, thanks a lot for the angelic assistance." Dean said sarcastically, "You know, I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest. Devin could have died"

"But you didn't." Cas pointed out, "and Devin is still alive"

"No thanks to you." I muttered, not catching Cas' hurt expression.

"I thought angels were supposed to be guardians." Dean said, "Fluffy wings, halos - You know, Michael Landon. Not dicks" I laughed shortly

"Read the bible." Cas said, "Angels are warriors of god. I'm a soldier."

"Yeah? Then, why didn't you fight?" Dean asked, a very good question

"I'm not here to perch on your shoulder." Castiel said, "We had larger concerns."

"Concerns?" Dean asked incredulously, "There were people getting torn to shreds down here! And, by the way, while all this is going on, where the hell is your boss, huh, if there is a god?"

"There's a god." Castiel said earnestly

"I'm not convinced." I said at the same time as Dean

"Cause if there's a god, what the hell is he waiting for, huh?" Dean continued, "Genocide? Monsters roaming the earth? The freaking apocalypse? At what point does he lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards that are stuck down here?"

"The lord works-" Cas started but Dean interrupted him

"If you say "mysterious ways," So help me, I will kick your ass." Dean said, and I hummed my agreement.

"So, bobby was right about the witnesses." I said, "This is some kind of a Sign of the apocalypse."

"That's why we're here." Cas pointed out, "Big things afoot."

"Do I want to know what kind of things?" Dean asked

"I sincerely doubt it, but you need to know." Cas said, "both of you"

Dean and I shared a look and I swallowed hard, the last time I'd had to deal with the angels it hadn't gone well. I really didn't want to work with them again.

"The rising of the witnesses is one of the 66 seals." Cas continued obliviously

"Okay." I said, nodding

"I'm guessing that's not a show at SeaWorld." Dean joked and I smacked him on the chest, he grinned.

"Those seals are being broken by Lilith." Cas said, ignoring our banter, "She did the spell. She rose the witnesses."

"Mm-Hmm." Dean hummed

"And not just here." I said

"20 other hunters are dead." Dean added

"Of course." Cas agreed and I shot him a look

"She picked victims that the hunters couldn't save" Dean said, "So that they would barrel right after us."

"Lilith has a certain sense of humor." Cas said and I groaned, Lilith's sense of humor was morbid at best.

"Well, we put those spirits back to rest." Dean pointed out, I nodded

"It doesn't matter." Cas said and I frowned, "The seal was broken."

"Why break the seal anyway?" I asked

"You think of the seals as locks on a door."

"Okay." Dean said

"Last one opens and Lucifer walks free." Cas explained and I cringed

"Lucifer?" I squeaked, Dean put a hand on my shoulder and I turned to smile at him

"But I thought Lucifer was just a story they told at demon Sunday school." Dean said

"There's no such thing." Cas said, not understanding that it was a joke, "Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me. Why do you think we're here walking among you now for the first time in 2,000 years?'

"I thought it was because I was charming," I joked and Dean squeezed my shoulder

"To stop Lucifer." Cas said, ignoring me, "That's why we've arrived."

"Well bang-Up job so far." Dean said,

"Stellar work with the witnesses" I added sarcastically

"We tried." Cas said, "And there are other battles, other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost."

"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered earning myself another shoulder squeeze from Dean and a confused look from Cas.

"Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here. You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of hell. I can throw you back in."

I breathed in sharply and glared at Cas, he froze, as well he should. The bastard didn't protect me from the demons and now he was threatening to throw Dean back in hell. I'd only known the man for a day but I did not like Cas threatening him.

"Get out," I growled, "You have no right to demand respect until you learn to think for yourself. Or was it your own decision to abandon me to Azazel?"

"It was not… my choice." Cas muttered and I nodded.

"Good now get out." Dean said and Cas vanished.

"You all right?" Dean asked me, finally removing his hand from my shoulder (Not gonna lie I missed the warmth)

"What's wrong, dean?" A voice said behind us, we both turned to see Sam rubbing at his face sleepily.

"So you got no problem believing in God and angels?" I asked Sam when we were all sitting in the living room, Dean and Sam on the couch and me on the floor leaning slightly into Dean's legs.

"No, not really." Sam said.

"So, I guess that means that you believe in the devil." Dean said, we shared a look.

"Why are you asking me all this?" Sam asked, looking between us.


	3. Birds of a Feather

_Where she walks, no flowers bloom_  
><em>He's the one I see right through<em>  
><em>She's the absinthe on my lips<em>  
><em>The splinter in my fingertips<em>

_But who could do without you?_  
><em>And who could do without you?<em>

_She the sea I'm sinkin' in_  
><em>He's the ink under my skin<em>  
><em>Sometimes I can't tell where I am<em>  
><em>Where I leave off and he begins.<em>

_-Birds of a Feather, The Civil Wars_

* * *

><p>After many days with the Winchesters hanging out at Bobby's place I finally relax. Dean and Sam and Bobby had promised me multiple times that they would not let anything happen to me. Cas even dropped by and tried to promise the same thing but I'd sent the Angel packing with a promise to tell Gabriel where he was. I'd then had to explain to the Winchesters about Gabriel, the trickster archangel and the chaos we had caused.<p>

After five days I noticed that Dean and Sam were growing restless. I'd been happy for the break and the chance to relax. I knew that Dean needed to move though, I'd felt the same way a lot before the things that had happened in the last five years. I decided to look for a hunt and we ended up in Kansas City, Missouri at the Epperson House. After finishing the hunt we go to the motel. It's late but I can tell that Dean and Sam are feeling better after the hunt.

We left Adrasteia and Stygian at Bobby's despite my argument that the cat and dog are actually useful on a hunt. Dean's argument was that he didn't want any more cat hair than necessary in his car. I'd offered to drive my dodge but he apparently wasn't having that either so I'd left the cat and dog with Bobby.

"Dr. Sexy?" I asked Dean later, he nodded. It had become a routine. No matter how late it was we always watched the show before going to bed.

Dean and I plop down on one of the beds, both of us holding pillows on our laps, as Dean flips through the channels on the crappy motel TV before finding what it was that we were searching for. Sam groaned on his bed and I stuck my tongue out at him before turning back to the show.

An hour later I slipped off the bed and went to the cot that had been set up in the middle. I laid down, trying to sleep, but after an hour of not sleeping I got up and pulled my coat on and slipped my feet into my boots. I grabbed my brown satchel that I had left by the door. The satchel held my phone, a charger, a flask of holy water and a spare flask, my wallet, and other necessities. Sam had sewn a small knife into one of the two smaller front pockets. I had bought it when Bobby and I had gone grocery stopping three days ago. I knew that with the Winchesters I would need to be prepared to leave whenever.

I slipped out the front door and went to the Impala, my car was left behind on this trip but I wasn't complaining. I loved the '67 Chevy, it had character that my dodge would never have. I sat on the trunk of the car and pulled the holy water from the bag. After taking a drink I sighed and leaned so that my back was against the cold glass of the car.

I stayed like that for around twenty minutes before I heard a motel door open I sat up and looked over my shoulder to see Dean standing just outside the motel with his coat and shoes on. He looked at me for a moment before walking over and lifting himself next to me on the trunk.

I laid back down and Dean joined me after a moment. We stayed like that in a comfortable silence for a long time until Dean spoke. His voice seemed to slide in the night like it belonged there and it didn't even startle me as many voices would have.

"I don't think I've ever been so comfortable with a person so quickly," Dean said and I turned to him with a smile.

"Me either," I agreed. And I really hadn't, even with Ellen and Jo it took me months to open up. With Dean I felt like I could tell time anything and he wouldn't judge me. I wouldn't tell him everything though, probably not ever. I had secrets that I wanted to stay secret, as I was certain Dean did too.

"Wanna go on a walk?" I asked, jumping on the back of the Impala. Dean nodded and he jumped off too.

We walked for a while talking about everything and nothing and it was really nice to just talk. It was cold out and starting to rain when we decided to go back to the motel. I took my flask out and took a drink of the holy water before offering it to Dean, he declined politely.

"Why do you drink that stuff?" He asked and I gave him a rueful smile.

"I've spent the last five years with demons in my Dean. I know it's not nearly as bad as the time you spent in Hell," Dean started to speak but I interrupted him, "No, I know about your nightmares Dean. You don't scream but you do groan. I've woken up many times because of my own only to watch you have yours.

I drink the holy water because it's purifying. Sometimes I wake up and I feel like the demons are still in me. It wasn't just Azazel Dean. Lilith, Meg, so many fucking Demons. The fact that I'm alive is a miracle. Most people die after 50 possessions. I-" I paused and took a deep breath, I was starting to panic. I lifted my flask shakily to my lips to take a drink.

Suddenly Dean's arms are around me and I lean into him taking in the feel of his strong body and the smell of beer and pie and something that is so… Dean. I press my face into his chest and take deep breaths to calm myself down. After five minutes I step away, wiping the tears from my face.

"You know how some people are addicted to nicotine, or smoke Mary J, to calm themselves down. That's their drug of choice. My calming addiction just happens to be holy water."

Dean nodded and we went back into the hotel. I shed my coat and shoes and set my satchel down by my bed so that I would be able to reach it. I told Dean good night then laid down in the cot closing my eyes.

What felt like minutes later but must have been hours I sat up on the cot when I heard the door to the motel room shut. Nothing should have been able to get in so that meant that one of the brothers had left. I looked around, taking note of the fact that Sam was no longer in the room, then I heard the sound of wings.

I watched Cas sit on the edge of Dean's bed as Dean's eyes sprung open, he'd had another nightmare. The man sat up quickly and turned to Cas. The angel turned to regard Dean for a moment before speaking.

"Hello, Dean." Cas said, his voice deep, "And what were you dreaming about?"

"You get your freak on by watching other people sleep?" Dean asked, I have to admit it was a good question, "What do you want?"

"Listen to me." Cas said to Dean, "You have to stop it. Both of you."

Cas moved from the bed and walked over to me, placing a hand on my head. The last thing I heard before I found myself on a bench leaning against Dean is Dean asking what we were supposed to stop.

"Move it, buddy. You can't sleep here" A cop said, apparently only seeing Dean. Though how to cop knew Dean was sleeping was beyond me. Since the cop was behind us and Dean as propped against me with his head on top of mine.

"Okay. Sleep where?" Dean grumbled waking up, I laughed.

"Anywhere but here." The cop replied before walking away.

"Perfect." Dean grumbled and I pushed him off of me.

Dean checked his phone and scowled as I pulled him up and dragged him over to the diner across the street. Upon entering Dean shook himself from my grip and walked over to the bar. I shook my head at him with a small smile.

"Hey, where the hell am I?" Dean asked the man sitting at the bar and I groaned, did he have to sound insane?

"Jay bird's diner." The man replied, looking at Dean like he was crazy. I noticed that the two of them looked alike so I walked over and took a seat next to the man.

"Yeah, thanks." Dean said sarcastically, "I mean, uh, city and state."

"Lawrence, Kansas." The man replied and he glanced at me. I twirled my finger near my head and pointed at Dean and the man gave me a small smile. Dean glared at me until the man looked back at him.

"Lawrence." Dean repeated and I glanced at him, worried. I knew some of his history from my time with Azazel in my head.

"Are you okay, buddy?" The man asked Dean

"Yeah." Dean replied, not really paying attention, "Tough night."

"Hey, uh, coffee here, Reg." The man called to the worker behind the bar, Reg if his name tag was accurate, "Two of them." I grinned.

"Can you tell me where I can get reception on this thing?" Dean asked and I glanced sharply at the phone in his hand. I took mine out and saw that I didn't have service either.

"The U. S. S. Enterprise?" The man joked and I laughed, putting my phone away.

"Thanks." Dean said sarcastically and I stood up and walked over to sit on the other side of Dean. I pretended that I was doing it to look out at the window but I don't think I fooled either of the men. I turned so that I was leaning against the counter looking back to take the offered Coffee gratefully. I didn't usually drink coffee as I didn't exactly like the taste but I needed the caffeine.

"Nice threads." Dean said to Reg who handed us our coffee, "You know sonny and Cher broke up, right?" Dean asked.

"Sonny and Cher broke up?" The man, the coffee angel, asked, confused.

Dean looked around, noting how everything looked vintage, even the people, just as I did the same. Dean looked back to the man and read over his shoulder. Dean saw something on the newspaper and he noticeably paled. I moved to glance at it too and frowned, the date on the paper read Monday, April 30, 1973. Dean and I shared a look, his confused mind angry. Castiel was messing with us.

"Hey, Winchester!" An older man called as he walked into the diner and all three of us turned to look at the man. Dean then looked between our coffee angel, as I was now calling him, and the man at the door. I looked between and the man. John Winchester, Dean's father, in his younger years. I felt my mouth drop, shocked. Castiel that sonuvabitch, was this what he wanted, Dean to stop Mary from making the deal that she made? I placed a hand on Dean's knee, whether to calm him or myself I wasn't sure.

"How you doin', corporal?" The man said to John

"Hey, Mr. D." John said standing and offering his hand to Mr. D.

"I heard you were back." Mr. D said taking the offered hand

"Yeah, a little while now." John said

"Good to have you home, john - Damn good." Mr. D said and I glanced at Dean, my hand still on his knee.

"Dad?" Dean breathed and I squeezed his knee. Dean shot me a look that I couldn't read, it looked like confusion or surprise but I wasn't sure, so I removed my hand.

"Say hello to your old man for me." Mr. D said, finally letting go of John's hand.

"You got it, Mr. D." John said before coming back over to the bar to grab his coffee, Dean stared at him the entire time. I saw how it unnerved John and I had to agree that unknowingly meeting your first born child before he was even born had to be pretty unnerving.

"Do we know each other?" John asked after a moment

"I guess not." Dean said awkwardly before turning away from John and taking a drink of his Coffee

"Take it easy, pal." John said, he paid for the coffee stood up and patted Dean on the shoulder. He shot me a smile before walking out of the diner.

"Yeah." Dean said lamely after John had left.

I turned to look at Dean then, noting how pale he was.

"Hey man, let's go see if Cas the Assgel can send us back to the future." I said, tentatively placing my hand on one of Dean's knees again.

Dean nodded with a small smile and we left the diner. Following John as I called to Castiel. "Cas you friggin' bastard, get your ass down here before I send it straight to the seventh circle of Hell."

John turned around a corner and we followed, almost running into Cas. "You can't do that without an Angel hunting knife." Cas said, confused.

"What is this?" I asked gesturing around me, ignoring his comment. We both very well knew that I could hold my own against an angel.

"What does it look like?" Cas asked.

"Is it real?" Dean asked, I hummed my impatience, of course this was real.

"Very." Cas replied calmly

"Okay, so, what, angels got their hands on some deloreans?" I asked

"How did we get here?" Dean demanded

"Time is fluid, Dean." explained Cas, "It's not easy, but we can bend it on occasion."

"Well, bend it back." Dean said "Or tell us what the hell we're doing here."

"I told you." Cas said, "You have to stop it."

"Stop what?" I asked

"Huh?" Dean asked, "What, is there something nasty after my dad?"

There was a squealing of tires and Dean and I looked over to see what happened. When we looked back Cas was gone. I swore and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Come on." Dean groaned, "What, are you allergic to straight answers, you son of a bitch?!"

Dean and I decide that the best option is to continue down the road that John had gone down. Hopefully we would run into John again. As luck would have it Dean spotted John in a used car dealership eyeing up a disgustingly designed van, the same kind of vehicle that the Scooby Gang drove. Dean looked over and his eyes bulged when he laid eyes on a '67 Chevy Impala. I knew that it was the one Dean had now and turned to look at Dean.

He wasn't there anymore though, he was in the dealership showing the Impala to John. I smiled before entering the lot and walking over to the two men, just as John introduced himself.

"John Winchester." John said, holding his hand out to Dean who took it, "Thanks."

"Dean van Halen." Dean said and I groaned internally.

"Devin Ahearn," I added leaning around Dean, startling both men, "And thank you for the coffee this morning. I wouldn't have been able to handle Dean-o without it." I made the same gesture from earlier, circling my finger a bit from my head and point at Dean.

"I was in pretty rough shape this morning, huh?" Dean asked

"No kidding." John and I say at the same time.

"I've been hung over before, but, hey, I was getting chills in that diner." Dean said, "You didn't feel any of those cold spots, did you?"

"Nope." John said, popping the 'p'

"I swore I smelled something weird, too, you know? Like rotten eggs." Dean said and I actually groaned, drawing attention to myself again. "You didn't happen to smell any sulfur, by chance?"

"No." John said and Dean repeated the word.

"Have there been any cattle mutilations in town?" Dean asked again, I hit him on the back of the head. He grabbed the spot and glared at me, I stared pointedly back, an eyebrow raised.

"Okay, mister, stop it." John said getting creeped by Dean.

"Yeah." Dean said offhandedly, "If only I knew what to stop."

"Listen, uh watch out for yourself, okay?" I said as Dean started to walk away. I lost track of Dean somehow and cursed. I ended up wandering for a while, having no way to contact him. I find a nice looking restaurant, I ordered water, telling the waiter I was waiting for my date to show up.

After a couple hours I see John and Mary enter the restaurant and note that John looked nervous. He was probably going to ask Mary for her hand in marriage or something equally cheesy. I watch them with a smile on my face and followed Mary as she excused herself from John. She heads outside which surprised me until I saw Dean looking through the window of the restaurant. Mary was a hunter, she knew Dean had followed them apparently.

"Why are you following us?" Mary asked as she spun Dean around and punched him. I smiled, Dean was getting his ass handed to him by his mom.

"Are you crazy?" Dean asked his mother who proceeded to beat Dean up.

"You've been trailing us since my house." Mary said, kneeing Dean in the stomach

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dean insisted

"Oh, really?" Mary asked landing another knee in Dean's stomach, Dean spins and holds Mary against the wall, restraining her arms as I walked up to them.

"Okay, how about we talk about this, huh?" Dean asked, glancing at me.

"Let me go!" Mary grunted and that's when Dean froze, seeming to notice something he backs up from Mary.

"Are you a hunter?" Dean asked.

No shit Sherlock. Of course your mama was a hunter.

I looked from Mary to Dean before deciding that Mary should get back to John. I grab Dean's shoulder and move him back a little further.

"Sorry 'bout him," I told Mary with a smile, "He's a little crazy. Get back to your date," I gave Mary a wink before I managed to spin Dean and push him away from Mary.

Once we're away from Mary I let go of Dean and stalked off to the car that Dean had somehow managed to get his hands on. Now that I wasn't watching Dean get beat up by his mother I was pissed at the man for leaving me behind earlier. I knew he didn't trust me completely and hell, I didn't trust him entirely either, but I expected just a tad more from him.

It wouldn't have bothered me if I'd had a phone. But we were in the past with no way to contact each other and frankly I was more than a little nervous. What if something happened and we got stuck here. This was a place where Azazel was still alive. I didn't want to meet the Demon.

I really needed some holy water right now.

"Devin," Dean called to me and I turned around. I'm pretty sure I saw Dean flinch but I couldn't be positive.

"What," I barked.

"I'm sorry," Dean said and I blinked

"For what?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I don't even know, honestly." Dean said, running a hand through his hair, "but I pissed you off and I really don't want you pissed at me."

I watched him for a moment, noting the sincerity in his eyes and the tone of his voice.

"You left me, Dean" I told him, "You just disappeared. I'm fine with you doing that on normal hunts," I was referencing the only hunt we'd done since I'd met him, he'd gotten a lead and I'd been sleeping so he and Sam had left. "I had a way of contacting you. But not here Dean. Not on hunts like this. And especially not if this involves your family."

I saw the hurt in Dean's eyes before he put his blank face on. "Sorry, Devin." Dean said again, his voice small.

"Me too Dean. I did not mean it like that." I walked over to him and pulled the man into a hug, "Your mom is bad ass and your dad isn't half as bad as I thought he was. But Dean, if it involved your family it more than likely involves Azazel." I shuddered and Dean wrapped him arms around me, placing his chin on top of my head. I sighed after a moment and pulled away, "let's go meet your family," I said with a wink grabbing Dean's hand and pulling him to his car.

Dean grinned and opened my door for me before jogging around to the driver's side. We talk on the way to Mary's house. I told Dean some of the more mundane fears I had, such as acrophobia and a severe fear of flying. Dean tells me about a case he and Sam had done which called for flying with a possessed co-pilot and I hissed in sympathy.

We were still talking when Mary and John drove up to Mary's house. Dean and I quickly got out of the car and hid behind a tree as John drove up. Dean stepped out from behind the tree and I followed.

"Dean, right?" Mary asked Dean before looking at my

"I'm Devin Ahearn," I tell Mary with a smile, she returns it quickly before looking back at Dean, "I'm not sure you should come in."

"You can trust me." I elbow Dean, "you can trust us," he amends. "I mean, come on, we're all hunters, right? I mean, we're - We're practically family." I take Dean's hand and squeeze quickly before letting it fall back to his side.

"The thing is, my dad, he's a little," Mary said trying to think of how to explain her overprotective father.

"Um oh, I got to meet him." Dean said

"You've heard of him?" Mary asked, surprised

"Clearly, not enough." Dean said with a smirk

Mary nodded and led the two of into her house. She nodded to her mom and led us to her father, Dean's grandpa. I watched as Mary's dad, Samuel Winchester, glanced at us before looking back to his paper.

"Dad, this is Dean Van Halen, and Devin Ahearn." Mary introduced us, "Their both hunters"

"So, you're hunters?" Samuel asked, Dean and I nod "Well, tell me something, Mr. Hunter - You kill vampires with wooden stakes or silver?"

"Neither." Dean said, "You cut their heads off. So, do I pass your test?"

"Yep" Samuel said, popping the 'p', "but she hasn't. Ms. Hunter, how do you kill a demon?"

This question was too easy. I'd had demons in my head for five years, I knew multiple ways to kill a demon. "Well the easiest way to kill them is the Colt, then there's a knife that can kill them. Angels kill them with their angel mojo-" Samuel stopped me

"You failed, get out." Samuel growled. I glared back, popping a hip to the side and putting my hand on it.

"Sir, I don't believe you understand. I've had more experience with demons than hunters who die of old age. More than I care to remember. I know how to gank a friggin' demon."

"The Colt? Angels? Those are things of myths." Samuel said and I raised an eyebrow

"Don't all myths have an origin?" I asked, "And how can you know Demons exist and not believe in the possibility of Angels? Isn't that a little bit twisted? Believing in the bad but not the good?"

"Fine, you pass," Samuel conceded, I grinned, "Get out of my house."

"Dad!" Mary yelled, shocked by her father's actions.

"I don't trust other hunters, Dean." Samuel explained to us, I nodded, understanding, "Don't want their help. Don't want them around my family."

"Knock it off, Samuel." Mary's mother, Deanna, said coming into the living room from the kitchen, "They're hunters. Who passed your little pop quiz, and now I'm inviting them to dinner," He turned to us "You hungry?"

"Starving." Dean said and I nodded.

"Good." The woman replied, "I'm Deanna. You've met my husband, Samuel. Now wash up."

"Samuel and Deanna?" Dean asked Mary and I smirked, he was named after a woman, "Really?"

Mary nodded then led Dean and I to the bathroom to wash up before going to see if her mom needed help. In my opinion Mary was too trusting of us, not that we were going to do anything bad but still.

I went first entering the small, homely bathroom. There were the typical ducky decorations. I finished washing my hands and switched places before I finally spoke, watching Dean closely.

"You okay?" I asked, he looked at me while rinsing his hands, "I mean, meeting your parents again, I'm sure its… confusing?" my eyebrows scrunched together trying to think of a better word.

"I'm okay," Dean said gruffly and I nodded. His tone told me to drop it so I did.

"Let's get back, Samuel probably thinks we're doing some pagan ritual or some shit." I said with a grin. Dean smirked back and then led the way back to the kitchen.

When we made it back out to the kitchen there were five seats around a small table, one of them was a folding chair. Dean took that chair and I sat down in the other empty chair, across from Mary and next to Deanna.

"First time in Lawrence, Dean?" Mary asked after we had prayed and started eating.

"Well been a while." Dean replied after he swallowed the bite of food he had in his mouth, "Things sure have changed I think."

"What about you, Devin?" Deanna asked and I shrugged.

"I passed through here once a while ago," I explained vaguely

When I had 'passed through' Lawrence I had been possessed by Azazel and we had visited the psychic Missouri to find out where John Winchester was. Missouri told us and Azazel had let her live in order to go find John at the hospital that he was at. He'd left me right in front of Missouri. Needless to say I was found within the week.

"You working a job?" Samuel asked

"Yeah, maybe." Dean replied.

"What's that mean?" Samuel questioned, leaning forward with his eyes narrowed

"It means I don't trust other hunters either, Samuel." Dean said and I glared at him. "Except Devin but she's like family."

There's a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach when Dean says that I'm family. I smiled at him before turning back to my food. I wouldn't mind a glass of holy water, I can feel my hands shaking, but I dare not ask.

"Hey, um so, why were you following me and john?" Mary asked after a moment

Dean hummed before answering, "We thought something was after your - Your boyfriend."

"But, um, we don't think that anymore." I add when Mary looked at us suspiciously.

"John Winchester mixing it up with spirits." Samuel quipped bitterly "Can you imagine?"

"I saw that." Mary said, pointing her fork at Samuel

"What?" Samuel asked, schooling his features into a mask of innocence that almost had me fooled.

"That sour-Lemon look." Mary elaborated. The look was very similar to one of Sam's 'bitch faces'

"Now, hold on." Deanna started before Samuel interrupted her

"John's a really, really nice naive civilian." Samuel admitted

"So, what, would you rather me be with a guy like this?" Mary asked pointing her fork at Dean who frowned

"What? No, no." Dean said shaking his head vigorously, I grinned at him.

"Mary, of course not." Samuel said, also shaking his head, "It's just that I-"

"That's enough, both of you." Deanna interrupted, "We have company."

"So, what about you, Sam?" Dean asked, "You, uh, working a job?"

"Might be." Samuel admitted

"He's working a job on the Witshire farm." Mary said and Samuel glared at her

"Witshire - Why does that name sound familiar to me?" Dean asked turning to me, I shrugged.

"It's been all over the papers - Tom Witshire." Samuel explained, "Got tangled up in a combine a few towns over."

"That kind of thing happens." I said, even though I knew it had to be the damn demon I feared so much. Not even when he was dead could I escape the bastard. Dean noticed my breath quickening and placed a hand on my knee under the table.

"Except why was he on it in the first place when his crops are all dead?" Samuel asked

"Demonic omens?" Dean asked, squeezing my knee.

"That's what I got to find out." Samuel said

"What about the rest of the town? Did you find anything on the web?" I gave Dean a pointed look and he continued quickly "Ofinformation that you have assembled?"

"Electrical storms, maybe." I added with a small smile

"The weather service graphs should be here on Friday." Deanna said

"By mail?" Dean asked and I shook my head at him. It was 1973 not 2003.

"No, we hired a jetliner to fly them to us overnight." Samuel said sarcastically, pushing his empty plate towards the middle of the table and leaning back in his spot. A position I often saw Dean take.

"You know, it sounds to me like we might be hunting the same thing." Dean said and I looked at him with my eyebrow raised before understanding came to me, "You know, if we go in there in numbers, we'll take care of this real quick."

"What part of "we work alone" do you not understand, son?" Samuel growled, glaring at Dean

I grinned, "We understand Samuel."

"Of course," Dean added with a smirk

I ate in silence for a few moments my hands still shaking and then I look at Dean apologetically. I needed holy water. I wasn't kidding when I said earlier that I was addicted to it. I could feel a headache coming on and my shakes were progressively getting worse and soon the other three were going to notice. Dean squeezed my knee and nodded at me. I smiled gratefully.

"I know this is a weird question," I started and everyone looked at me, "but do you guys have any holy water?"

"Why?" Samuel asked and I shrugged.

"Because she's been through a lot and it makes her feel better," Dean said menacingly and I shot him a grateful look.

"Of course, sweetie." Deanna said standing up from the table. She came back a little bit later with a glass of holy water and I took it gratefully.

"Much better," I said with a smile after I had finished the glass, "Thank you" I said turning to look at Deanna.

"No problem," Deana said with a smile.

"We should leave," Dean said when he'd finished his food. I was nursing my second glass of holy water and finished it quickly before standing.

"Thank you," I said to Deanna and Mary with a glance at Samuel.

"Anytime, love." Deanna said and I smiled.

Once we were in the car that Dean had, I'm pretty sure, stolen we drove to the next town and Dean pulled off at a motel. I stopped him from leaving the car with a shake of my head.

"Dean, we don't have money." I told him and he swore.

"Fucking Angels, the least they could do is leave us with some money." Dean groaned and I grinned.

"True that." I said, "Castiel, get your feathery ass down here before I kill Dean."

There was the sound of wings and I look into the back of the car to see Castiel staring at us in confusion.

"I thought you two were friends?" Castiel asked and Dean and I shared a look

"Are we?" I asked and Dean laughed.

"Sure," He said and I grinned

"Doesn't mean I won't kill him, Cas." I said, "Now, we need a place to stay which means we need money." I tell the angel, "If we have to sleep in this damn car I will kill Dean for his poor choice of car."

"It's not that bad," Dean argued and I gave him a look, "Okay, it's terrible," he conceded

I jump a little when a wallet is thrusted between us, I had forgotten Castiel was even there. Dean took the wallet and I turned to say thanks to the angel to find that he wasn't there anymore. I shrugged and got out of the car, following Dean.

Once we're in the hotel room I sprawl out on the bed furthest from the door with a groan. I really was tired of Demons and Angels meddling with my life. Dean goes into the bathroom and I got up. I was going into the kitchenette when I realized something vitally important.

"Dean," I called walking towards the bathroom.

"What?" Came the reply two seconds later,

"We don't have salt."

"Shit" Dean said. Two seconds after that he was out of the room and heading towards the car he had.

"Wait for me," I called, running after Dean, damn the man could move fast, "You're not leaving me behind again."

Dean stopped and waited for me to catch up. We decided not to take the car, as the store was only a block away from the motel. When we got there we bought almost all of the salt, much to the confusion and obvious disgust of the lone cashier.

"Did you see that guys face?" I asked Dean with a laugh as we leave the store. He chuckled in response before suddenly throwing an arm over my shoulder. I looked at him confused before I noticed that we were being followed. I stiffened for a moment before throwing my arm around Dean's waist.

Despite my discomfort at being followed I relished in the feel of Dean's arms around my shoulder. He's strong and warm and he's absolutely strong and amazing despite what I know he thinks of himself.

"Let's go back, baby." Dean says and I smirk at him.

"Let's run." I said and we both took off at a dead sprint. Around the corner Dean pulled me behind him and pulled out the knife he had bought at the store. The person following us turned around the corner and stopped at the sight of the knife.

"Why are you following us?" Dean demanded of the man.

"I have a message for Devin Ahearn," the man said and I frowned, why would this man from the past have a message for me?

"You're an angel," I said, realization dawning on me.

The man nodded before handing me the paper he had and walking away. I read the note then handed it to Dean before walking away. Dean followed me, stuffing the note into his pocket.

"Devin, what does this mean?" Dean asked and I continued walking, fuming.

Dean grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, searching my face, "C'mon Dev, talk to me?"

He turned the demand in a question and I felt the anger dissolve from me.

_Devin, this is Taco, if you run I'll make your life living hell. Finish this and you'll never have to deal with Azazel again._

"Taco is a codename an alias of sorts." I explained, "For the only angel friend I had. He knows how much I" I paused to take a deep breath, "How much I fear Azazel and if I'm right then this little shindig involves him."

Dean wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into the hug, needing the contact. "I won't let anything happen to you Devin." Dean promised and I nodded into his chest.

After a few moments I step back and give Dean a small smile, "The next time I see Taco I'm gonna kill him," I told Dean and he chuckled.

"Can't wait to see it." Dean said before grabbing my hand and leading me to the motel.

I crawled into the bed furthest from the door as Dean pours the salt onto the ground. I watched him until my eyelids closed and I fell asleep.

"_You can never escape from me." a voice whispers in my ear and I groan. "You'll never be free, remember all the things we've done together? You're worse than Dean… and he went to Hell."_

I sat up with a gasp and looked around the motel room to see that Dean was also having a nightmare. I slipped out of my bed and sat down on his. His eyes flew open and he sat up gasping. I watched him as he took in his surroundings and calmed down.

"Nightmare?" I asked even though it was obvious, he had them a lot and had screamed the first couple of nights that I had been with the Winchesters but not at all after I had told him that he did.

Dean shook his head and I gave him a small smile to tell him that I knew he was lying but I wouldn't push him. I got off his bed and went to the kitchenette to fill two glasses of water. I put some salt in mine and handed Dean his before sitting next to him on his bed.

He looked at my cup with a grimace as I took a drink. I raised an eyebrow at him and he took a drink of his own water.

"It's not as helpful as holy water but it does in a pinch," I explained. Before I had gotten my hands on some holy water I had been living on a mix of salt water and plain old water. One of them dehydrating me the other doing absolutely nothing to make me feel better.

Dean nodded then set his glass down on his end table and picked up the remote. He turned on the TV and flipped through the channels before settling on a rerun of "say yes to the dress" I give him a look and he shrugs.

We sat there watching TLC for an hour before we both nodded off around the same time. When I woke up Dean was leaning against me, his cheek resting on my head. I smiled and stayed there until he woke up.

"Morning princess" I said slipping off his bed and going into the bathroom. He grumbled at me and I laughed.

After we had both cleaned up we went to the store and bought nicer clothes, Dean got a suit and I got a black skirt and a nice white blouse. We decided that Dean would be a priest and I would stay outside to investigate the grounds of the house, looking for any clues there.

When we arrive Dean goes straight to the house and I look around the yard. I was by a tree when a young man walked out of the house. I was getting ready to go speak with him as I heard a truck drive up. I looked out from behind the tree and saw Mary and Samuel exit the truck.

"And I'm here because?" Mary asked

"Family business, Mary." I heard Samuel say, "Family. What, you'd rather be waving pom-Poms at a bunch of dumb jocks?" I watched Mary walking over to the man I'd been about to talk to.

"Uh, where you going?" Samuel called

"To do the job, dad." Mary replied and I couldn't help but grin

Samuel sighed and walked into the house. I stepped out from behind the tree and startled Mary. I grinned at her and she smiled back.

"Devin," Mary said in greeting, offering her hand.

"Mary," I nodded back, accepting her hand.

"Here for the investigation?" Mary asked and I nodded, "and I can assume that Dean is inside"

"Yeah, he also decided to be a priest." I said nodding to the house and letting our hands drop, "Wanna work together?"

"Sure," Mary said with a shrug, "let's get to this."

"Hello," I said, the man looked at us startled and I saw that he was actually a young boy, "My name's Delilah and this is my colleague, Karen."

Mary spoke up then, "We want to ask you a few questions about what happened to your dad, if you don't mind."

"Who do you two work for?" the man asked suspicious.

"County Sheriff," Mary replied holding out a badge then quickly storing it. That seemed to be enough for the man.

"I'm Charlie," He said before he proceeded to tell us his story.

A few minutes later Dean and Samuel left the house and were walking towards us. Dean stopped by my side while Samuel stopped by Mary. Mary and I shared a look and she rolled her eyes.

"Charlie, would you like to tell the father here what you just told me?" Mary asked Charlie who nodded

"Dad drank sometimes." Charlie explained, "Sometimes he got rough with mom."

"And that's when the stranger came?" Dean asked

"I just thought he was some bible-Thumper, Like you-All." he said gesturing to Dean and Samuel "He showed up about a week ago."

"Saying what?" Dean asked gruffly.

"Did I want the beatings to stop?" Charlie said, "I just thought he was crazy. I didn't think - And the next thing I know, dad's dead." Charlie looked between Mary and I "Am I going to jail?"

"You didn't do this, Charlie." Mary said

"Did the stranger want something in return?" Samuel asked

"He didn't want anything." Charlie said

"Come on, chuck." Dean said

"Charlie" I amended elbowing Dean who glared at me before continuing

"He wasn't just handing out freebies, now, was he?" Dean asked

"He did say something about coming a-Calling and maybe he'd want something then." Charlie elaborated after a moment

"Something like what?" Samuel asked

"I don't know, okay? Look, I told you he was nuts." Charlie said

"What do you think?" I asked Dean quietly

"I think he just pimped his soul to a demon, and he doesn't even know it." Dean muttered back to me. I shivered, not liking this case at all. Dean looked at me sympathetically and I like to think that he'd have given me another hug if we weren't surrounded by people. I could survive without the hugs but the physical contact was nice after being alone or with Demons for five years.

"Charlie, do you remember what the stranger looked like?" I asked

"Yeah, uh he's about 5'10" white." Charlie said, "He was kind of normal-Looking, really."

"Anything else?" I asked

"There was one thing." Charlie said

"What?" Mary asked, almost eagerly

"It's just, the light hit his eyes in a weird way, and for a moment, I could have sworn-" Charlie trailed off

"What, that they were black? Or red, maybe?" Dean prompted

"No" Charlie said and I dreaded his next words "They were yellow. Pale yellow."

I looked at Dean and he stared back at me. My suspicions were confirmed and there was nothing I could do about it _Taco _had told me to stay on the hunt and I knew that I had to. I couldn't leave Dean to face Azazel alone, no matter how much the demon freaked me out.

We said our goodbyes to Charlie and followed Mary and Samuel to their truck. Samuel was pushing Mary in front of him when we caught up.

We decided to head back to the Winchester house. I sat with my head against the window curled in on myself. Dean turned on the radio and seemingly ignored me but I could see him glancing at me in the reflection of the window.

"You know, I'm not gonna break down." I snapped after another minute.

"Never said you were." Dean defended and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." I said as we pulled up to the Winchester house. I got out of the car and followed Dean up to the house. The man had the audacity to just walk in the house and I grinned when he ran into a very frustrated Samuel.

"What's going on Dean?" Samuel asked gruffly. As he blocked our entrance to the house.

"I'll tell ya after Devin here gets some holy water." Dean replied and I grinned at him, the man knew me well already. That should freak me out but it just made me ridiculously happy.

"Fine" came the reply and we were let into the house.

I was promptly given a glass of holy water and took it with me to a seat near the table that Dean was setting his things on. Samuel watched Dean for a few minutes, letting the silence in the house drag out.

"What is going on Dean, what do you know?" Samuel asked finally and I watched the two men as I took a sip on my drink. I noticed that Mary wasn't in the room and stood up to look for her. Dean shot me a look that I couldn't read but it made me stay in the living room with him.

"It's a demon," Dean explained, I knew that he wanted me here for backup. To help convince his Granddaddy of the demon

Samuel was about to leave the room but turned around to regard Dean and me.

"What do you say we just slow down and talk this thing through?" Samuel demanded

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Except you're saying there's a demon, and none of us has ever heard of demon with yellow eyes." Samuel said, placing his hands on the table.

"Yeah, well, I have." I piped up, Samuel turned his glare on me and I smiled innocently

"This thing killed my family" Dean said and I placed a hand on his shoulder briefly

"Just calm down, son." Samuel said, which was obviously the wrong choice of words, Dean had been very calm.

"You don't get it, do you? You are in danger." Dean asked, glaring at Samuel, "We are all in danger. In fact, you need to get yourself someplace safe."

"Not until we know what we're dealing with here." Samuel said

"Sam's right, Dean - It could be a demon, It could be a shape shifter, any number of things." Deanna said handing Dean and I each a sandwich on a plate. I gave her a smile as my thanks.

"I know what this thing is! And I'm gonna kill it" Dean said and I shot him a look, he ignored me. "That's all the talking I need to do."

"You're gonna kill a demon?" Samuel said, disbelieving, "How?"

"There's a hunter named Daniel Elkins." Dean said, "He lives in Colorado. He has colt's gun." Samuel looked disbelieving so he added, "The colt."

"Yeah, I heard about the colt." Samuel said, still not believing Dean, "I used to tell it to Mary as a bedtime story."

"Well, it's real." I pointed out. In fact I've been at the wrong end of the colt. Obviously the shot wasn't fired but still, not fun. Not that anything in my life had been fun the last five years but still.

"All right, say that it is." Samuel said "You got some kind of a crystal ball Telling you where this demon's gonna be?"

"Yeah, maybe I do." Dean said pulling a piece of paper from his back pocket and handing it to Samuel.

"What's this?" Samuel asked

"It's a list." Dean said simply with a shrug. I stood there trying to figure out when Dean had made the list.

"Of what?" Samuel asked

"My dad wrote down anyone he thought ever came in contact With the yellow-Eyed demon - Who, where, and when." Dean explained, I nodded in confirmation as Samuel glanced at me but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Why?" Samuel asked

"Cause the more he could learn about the son of a bitch, the more he could figure out why it killed my mom." Dean said and I glanced at him, abandoning my attempt to figure out when he had written the list and putting a hand on his shoulder in comfort. For a moment I thought he would shake my hand off but instead he surprised me by giving me a small smile. In the week that I had known him I never took Dean Winchester to be the touchy feely type.

"Look." Dean continued "Witshire farm. I told you that name sounded familiar."

"Witshire farms - That was two days ago." Samuel said, "How the hell is that on your dad's list?"

"My dad could see the future." Dean said simply before pointing to a name on the list, "Look at this - Says he's gonna hit here tomorrow night."

"Liddy Walsh?" Deanna asked from the kitchen.

"Haleyville." Dean said

"That's close." I remarked, remembering passing through there in my demon days.

"Yeah, it's about 3 miles," Samuel confirmed staring at Dean

"Look I know you guys think I'm crazy." Dean said after glancing at the both of them.

"You seem like a really nice kid, Dean, but, yeah, you're crazy." Samuel said, "You too, Devin."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Yeah, maybe." Dean said, "But I know where this bastard's gonna be. And I'm gonna stop it once and for all."

I nodded in agreement before removing my hand from Dean's shoulder. The man glanced at me and I shrugged. I may be a comforting person but I could not deal with attachment right now, if that's what this was. I honestly wasn't sure.

We walked down the hall to the room Mary was in, I walked behind Dean and hung back as the two of them talked. Not really paying attention to the conversation that was happening in front of me, I was more worried about the fact that I was going after Azazel with Dean. The thing I currently feared the most with someone I barely trusted. Though if I was honest I trusted Dean more than I trusted most people.

"Hey, m-Uh, Mary can I tell you something?" Dean was saying as I zoned back into the conversation

"Sure." Mary replied with a shrug

"Even if this sounds really weird, Will you promise me that you will remember?" Dean said after clearing his throat

"Okay." Mary said, with a confused head tilt that reminded me of Sam.

"On November 2, 1983 don't get out of bed. No matter what you hear or what you see promise me you won't get out of bed." I glanced at Dean and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. He has tears in his eyes but he ignores them. I squeeze his shoulder to give him what comfort I can.

"Okay," Mary replied after a moment.

Dean nodded and then turned to walk out of the room, nearly bowling me over. I jumped out of the way and couldn't help laughing at his shocked expression. He'd forgotten I was there, I was touching his shoulder and he had forgotten I was even there. Oh this was great.

Dean scowled at me and stormed out of the room. I shared a look with Mary before following the fuming man out to the car. He was sitting in the driver's seat glaring at the steering wheel as I got in the car.

"Come on man, get driving." I said punching Dean lightly on the shoulder. He turned his glare to me and I held my hands up in a 'don't shoot me' gesture and Dean sighed.

"This is so weird," Dean said as he started the car, "Usually I would hate someone touching me but with you I don't even notice and it's kinda freaky."

I laughed a little bit, "Well, I'm just that amazing."

Dean chuckled and I have to say that I loved the sound. We made the rest of the ride in comfortable silence with ACDC playing from the speakers… Until Cas appeared, that is.

I groaned at the sound of wings in the back seat of the car. I really didn't need to spend more time with the angel. I was already pissed at him for abandoning my five years ago. Warrior of God indeed.

"So, what, god's my co-Pilot? Is that it?" Dean asked, Castiel didn't reply, "Oh, you're a regular chatty Cathy. Tell me something - Sam would have wanted in on this. Why not bring him back?"

"You had to do this alone, Dean." Cas replied

"Then why am I here? If he had to do this alone then why send me?" I asked, Castiel ignored me. I was getting real tired of the men in my life doing shit like that. Sometimes I asked important questions.

"And you don't care that he's tearing up the future looking for me right now?" Dean asked.

"Sam's not looking for you." Castiel said and I could see the hurt in Dean's face, no matter that it was quickly replaced by a smirk

"All right, if I do this, then the family curse breaks, right?" Dean asked, "Mom and dad live happily ever after, and Sam and I grow up Playing little league and chasing tail?"

"You realize if you do alter the future, your father, you, Sam, you'll never become hunters. And all those people you saved, they'll die." Castiel asked, I watched Dean for his response.

"I realize." Dean said

"And you don't care?" Cas asked

"Oh, I care. I care a lot." Dean replied and I grinned at him, "But these are my parents. I'm not gonna let them die again. I can't. Not if I can stop it."

After a few more shared words Castiel disappeared and I was alone with Dean again. He turned on the music and I hummed along before falling asleep with my face pressed against the glass.

Dean woke me a few hours later with a nudge. He grinned holding out the Colt for me to inspect. I hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped. Man I needed to sleep more often. My sleep had been surprisingly nightmare free and for that I was grateful.

"Got the colt, sleepyhead." Dean said as I sat up, wiping the drool off my chin.

I grinned at him as he pulled away from the house we had been stopped out, "You could have woken me up."

"You looked peaceful, I know you haven't been sleeping well," Dean said with a shrug.

"Neither have you," I pointed out, "But I've slept and you haven't, let me drive"

"Devin." Dean said but I shook my head

"No, Dean, this ain't the impala, let me drive." I insisted and Dean sighed finally letting me drive.

He pulled over to the side of the road and we switched seats. I started the drive over to Haleyville as Dean slept in the seat next to me. At points during the drive he would start mumbling from a nightmare and I'd nudge the man and he'd wake up a bit and then go back to sleep.

A few hours later we make it to Haleyville. Dean is out of the car quickly and I follow at a much slower pace. I find that I'm not very eager to visit the demon that occupied my mind the most over the last five years. We've been acquainted far more than I liked.

"You let her go!" Dean yelled raising the gun as I walked in behind him.

I notice that Azazel was there and I cringed back behind Dean, hoping the demon wouldn't notice me.

"Where'd you get that gun?" Azazel asked. Dean prepped the gun to shoot and I heard the demon leave the body of the man he had been occupying.

Dean ran to Mary as I went to check on the man. He was dead, not that I was expecting anything different but I've found that I always manage to have even just a little bit of hope.

Mary and Dean leave the house and after making sure that Liddy is okay with Samuel I follow.

"Mary, what else did he say to you?" Dean asked

"I told you - Just that he liked me." Mary glanced back at me as I left the house, "What did he mean by that?"

Dean was about to answer when Samuel left the house and came down the stairs to where we were standing.

"Liddy's a strong kid. She'll be fine" Samuel said walking up to Mary, "Are you okay?"

"No, dad, I'm pretty far from okay. Can we go?" Mary said before storming off to their truck

"Nice job in there." Samuel said

"I missed the shot." Dean growled

"Take the compliment, son." Samuel said, "I'm saying that I was wrong about you."

"We need to talk alone." Dean said

"Am I part of this 'we' or should I talk to Mary?" I asked eyeing Dean, making sure he was okay or something like that.

"You're part of the 'we' Devin." Dean said before setting off for the impala.

I followed with a grin, smiling the whole way to the Winchester's house. Mary left quickly to go spend some time with John and forget about this whole demon thing and I have to say that I couldn't blame her.

"We have to kill this thing now, or Mary dies." Dean said when Samuel was seated. I stood by Dean who was looking out the window watching Mary drive off.

"What? How do you know that?" Samuel asked, turning in his seat to look at us

"I just do, okay?" Dean replied, letting the curtain close

"When?" Samuel asked

"Well, maybe today, probably years from now, but it's happening -Trust me." Dean said

"So, what, are you some kind of a psychic now, too?" Samuel asked sarcastically.

"No." Dean said glancing at me, I gave him as encouraging a smile as I could muster, "All right, listen to me. Now, this is gonna sound a little actually, it's gonna sound massively, massively crazy."

"Okay." Samuel said, already sounding suspicious.

"Mary is my mother." Dean said. Samuel stood quickly and turned to look at us fully.

"Excuse me?"

"And I am your grandson." Dean continued, I put a hand on his shoulder, "And I know what the hell I'm talking about."

"You want to run that by me again, son?" Samuel said

"My real name is Dean Winchester. I was born January 24, parents are Mary and John Winchester."

"I don't have to listen to this."

"Mary gets killed by a yellow-Eyed demon in 1983. Now, I think that this, what happened tonight, I think this is the moment that he caught her scent. Now, if we don't catch this thing now and kill it and it gets away then Mary dies. So I'm asking you please." Samuel looks at us disbelieving "How did I know about the colt, huh? How did I know about the yellow-Eyed demon or where it would be? I'm not making this up, Samuel."

"Every bone in my body is aching to put you six feet under, but there's something about you-" He glanced at me and I shuddered "I can't shake it. Now, I may be crazier than you, son, but I believe you."

"Thank you." Dean sighed

"How do we find this bastard?" Samuel asked

"Right here - The list." Dean said. I still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling Samuel had been giving me.

"And with the colt?"

"Dean" I said suddenly, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Dean replied following me from the room.

I stopped a little bit down the hall and turned so that I could see if Samuel was listening in. He wasn't but I still had to be careful.

"There's something going on with Samuel," I whispered to Dean, standing nearly flesh against him so that he could hear me.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked just as quietly.

"I don't know but I don't think we can trust him" I replied, looking Dean in the eyes, "It's a gut feeling Dean."

Dean nodded and backed up a little bit. I followed him back out to where Samuel was waiting making sure to stay close to Dean.

"Let me see it." Samuel said holding out his hand when we got back.

"Sorry. I don't let anybody hold it." He said, completely ignoring the fact that he'd let me hold it earlier.

"I'm your grandfather." Samuel said, getting a little angry

"Nothing personal." Dean said and that's when Samuel changed.

"Sure it is. Especially when it's me you're trying to kill." Samuel's eyes flashed yellow and I hid behind Dean

"Future boy, huh? I only know one thing that's got the juice to swing something like that.

You must have friends in high places. So, I kill your mommy? That's why you came all this way to see little ol' me?"

"Oh, I came here to kill you." Dean snarled

"Hey. Wait a minute. If that slug marries your mommy, are you - Are you one of my psychic kids? No. Not you." He looked at me, "Or you… no you're someone better than that, you've been possessed before. By me? That's terrific. That means it all worked out."

"After all, it's why I'm here." Dean said sarcastically, "So that's what this is about - These deals you're making. You don't want these people's souls."

"No." Azazel said, "I just want their children. I'm here to choose the perfect parents, like your mommy."

"Why her?" I squeaked finally mustering the courage to speak

"Why any of them? Because they're strong they're pure. They eat their Wheaties. My own little master race they're ideal breeders." Dean looked disgusted and I grabbed his hand to keep him from doing anything stupid", get your mind out of the gutter. No one's breeding with me. Though Mary man, I'd like to make an exception. So far, she's my favorite."

"So, why make the deals?" I asked

"I need permission. I need to be invited into their houses. I know, I know - The red tape will drive you nuts. But in 10 short years, it'll all be worth it. Cause you know what I'm gonna do to your sibling? I'm gonna stand over their crib, and I'm gonna bleed into their mouth. Demon blood is better than Ovaltine, vitamins, minerals. It makes you big and strong!"

"For what? So they can lead your discount demon army? Is that your big plan?" I asked

"Please My endgame's a hell of a lot bigger than that, kid."

"Endgame? What endgame?" Dean asked

"Like I'm gonna tell you. Or those angels sitting on your shoulder. No. I'm gonna cover my tracks good."

"You can cover whatever the hell you want. I'm still gonna kill you." Dean growled

"Right. Now, that, I'd like to see."

"Maybe not today." Dean growled, letting go of my hand, "But you look into my eyes, you son of a bitch. Cause I'm the one that kills you."

"So, you're gonna save everybody. Is that right? Is that it? Well, I'll tell you one person that you're not gonna save." Azazel said grabbing a knife that I hadn't even seen "Your grandpappy."

"No!" Deanna yelled

I looked over just into to see Azazel snap Deanna's neck. She dropped and suddenly Azazel was gone.

"Dean, we need to save Mary. Now"

We both ran out to the car. Dean got into the driver's seat and if I had been two seconds slower he would have left without me.

"No!" Dean shouted when we got to clearing by the river that Mary and John had gone to. We'd asked a local man where they could be and this was the third place we had checked.

Suddenly Azazel was on Dean and then Dean was on the ground. I watched in horror as Azazel smiled and looked at me.

"You know about my deals, right?"

"I'm not going to have kids in ten years, I'll barely be alive."

"Oh, I know," Azazel smirked, "I want you yourself."

"Oh"

"Yes, so you wanna trade your life for Dean-os?"

"Thirty years from now." I said coming on a realization, exactly thirty years from now is when Azazel takes me from the graveyard. Cas hadn't stopped him because it was the deal. "You can take me thirty years from now. Bring Dean back that's our deal."

Azazel kissed me and I shuddered but didn't close my eyes. He was gone a second later and I watched as Dean woke up. I ran to him and helped in stand up. He pushed me away when he was standing.

"What the hell Devin?" Dean yelled, I flinched at the sound of his voice.

"Sorry." I said.

That was when Castiel arrived. The transportation back was different. It wasn't until I opened my eyes that I realized I was back at Bobby's… And Cas and Dean weren't.

"What the hell." I muttered before giving up and laying down on the couch, falling into a nightmare riddled sleep.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Please review :)_**


	4. Talking in Your Sleep

_When you close your eyes and you fall asleep_  
><em>And it's down to the sound of a heartbeat<em>  
><em>I can hear the things you're dreamin' about<em>  
><em>When you open up your heart and the truth comes out<em>  
><em>You tell me that you want me<em>  
><em>You tell me that you need me<em>  
><em>You tell me that you love me<em>  
><em>And I know that I'm right<em>  
><em>'Cause I hear it in the night<em>

-Talking in Your Sleep, The Civil Wars (Original by The Romantics)

* * *

><p>I don't remember the last time I was this pissed. I wasn't this pissed when the angels abandoned me to Azazel (Especially since I recently discovered that they had no choice). I wasn't this pissed when I discovered my high school sweetheart cheating on me with my best friend back before I was a full blown hunter.<p>

But Dean Winchester ignoring me? That pissed me off like no other. I save the bastards life and now he won't even be in the same house as me.

The coward won't even explain why he's been avoiding me.

And if I'm being completely honest it hurts like a bitch.

I mean I've known the guy for less than three weeks and I'm pissed at myself for becoming so attached. But the least he could do is let me know he was alive. But he ignores my calls.

And there's no telling where Sam is. Bobby hasn't seen him since we left on that last hunt. And he isn't returning my calls either.

And I'm pissed because both of the Winchester's are idiots and I've been at Bobby's for three days and Bobby may be good company but he and I don't click like I clicked with Dean and Sam.

Or like I thought we did.

"Dev?" Bobby asked in a voice that told me he had been calling for me for a while.

I look up at Bobby from my position on the couch, my feet hanging over the back and my head on the floor. Adrasteia is laying by my head and Stygian is laying on my stomach. Both animals watching me with the same concerned expression that Bobby is. I'm amazed by this, I hadn't realized my animals had expressions.

"Yes?" I answered finally, realizing he was still waiting for a response.

"You gonna sit here and mope over those idjits or do you wanna go on a hunt?" Bobby asked, looking for all the world like a teenager trying to get something from their mom.

"Uh." I say, unsure. This would be my first solo hunt since Azazel got me. Even in those four months without him I didn't hunt, I just ran.

It seems that all I could do was run.

"Sure," I answer finally, swinging my legs onto the couch then rolling off so that I was laying on Adra. The dog licked my face before squirming out from under me. I watch her run to Bobby and surprisingly feel confident in my ability to hunt. I mean, I went with Sam and Dean and didn't get them killed.

"Where do I go?" I asked, grabbing my flask off the end table and taking a swig. I stood up and brushed the animal hair and dust off my clothes before looking to Bobby expectantly.

"Carthage, Missouri there's a hunter there who called me saying he was going after someone who seemed to be going through metamorphosis, a rougarou by my counts, and I said I'd send someone to help him." Bobby replied handing me some papers, "This is what I got on the things"

"Thanks, Bobby." I said grabbing the paper, "If Sam or Dean show up give them a good ass kicking for me."

At this Bobby gave me an odd look, one that I didn't like.

"What is it?" I asked as Stygian jumped onto my shoulder from the couch, clawing my neck in the process. I hissed at the cat who hissed back before turning to Bobby, "Bobby?"

"Sam and Dean are on this hunt too."

"Bobby," I said slowly, "You know what, never mind. I'm still going, they're the ones ignoring me."

Bobby grinned and I returned it before going off to get my things.

Less than twenty minutes later I was in the dodge beginning the drive to Carthage. Adra and Stygian were curled up around each other in the passenger seat and I had a nice coffee courtesy of Bobby Singer to go along with my holy water.

I had to stop three times because of that dratted coffee.

Once to throw it up twice more for… other reasons.

Turns out holy water does not mix well with other beverages.

I need help with this addiction.

Nine hours later I was finally checked into a motel and Adra and Stygian were running around checking things out as I salted the doors and windows. It was late so I decided to go to sleep before starting on the hunt.

I woke up in the middle of the night confused and scared. Two feelings that I don't like to have. I took a drink of holy water from the flask I keep under my pillow to calm my nerves before I try to sleep again.

The next time I woke was to a knock on my door. I got up and threw on the pants that I kicked off in the night before walking to the door.

Through the peephole I saw Sam and Dean and I opened the door with a sigh letting them in. Dean ignores me and goes to the bathroom right away. Sam gives me a small smile before going to the table.

"You guys think you paid for this room or something?" I asked as my animals ran to me… to get away from Sam. Stygian was hissing at the man and Adra was cowering behind my legs.

"Sam?" I asked kneeling by the dog to calm her and looking at Sam through my eyelashes.

Sam was about to speak when Dean walked out of the bathroom slamming the door behind him. I glared at Dean and he glared back. Adrasteia wriggles out of my grip and runs to Dean who bends down with a small smile to pet the creature.

"So you'll be nice to my dog but not me?" I asked sarcastically.

"Your dog didn't sell her soul for me." Dean said not even looking at me.

"You did what?" Sam asked looking between the two of us.

"Shut up, Sam." We both snarled at the same time. I know that Sam's been doing some freaky shit, Stygian is a friggin demon (Well a demon _cat_ but still) and he's _scared_ of Sam.

"I didn't sell my soul." I growled

"You're right you sold your body like a cheap-"

I slammed my fist on the wall startling everyone in the room, a mistake I admit, the wall as a gray brick focus wall, "Dean Winchester if you finish that sentence I swear on everything that I hold dear that I'll kill you right here and then it'll have been for nothing."

Dean watched me warily as I took a deep calming breath. He didn't speak and for that he was lucky. I might have snapped and killed him even though he didn't finish that statement.

"You have no idea what I've been through, Dean" I said finally, "Every single demon that ever possessed me was only obsessed with one thing _the Winchesters_. I sold my body because you've always been special to me. The one thing that the demons feared." I held up my hand when Dean tried to interrupt me, "No. You're special to me, both of you, and you can't fucking argue that because as much as you don't believe it it's true."

"Okay." Dean said simply and I nodded.

I hadn't forgiven him for ignoring me and I definitely wasn't about to forgive him for what he'd almost called me. Just the fact that he thought that was painful. I didn't even know I was crying until Dean was wiping the tears off my cheeks. I tried to move away but he grabbed my wrist, holding me where I was.

"I'm sorry Dev." Dean said quietly, "I really am. I'm just tired of the people in my life sacrificing themselves for me." He smiled at me and try as I might I couldn't help but smile back.

After a moment Sam cleared his throat and I stepped around Dean to get a better look at the younger Winchester, trying to figure out why Adra and Stygian had been so afraid of him. After a moment and no clues I gave up and went over to sit at the table.

"What information do you guys have about this case?" I asked as Dean sat next to me.

"Nothing," Sam said with a shrug "We just got here, saw your car, got your room number and that's all we really had time to do."

"That's not creepy or anything." I joked before grabbing my bag from near the table. I tried not to get out of my chair and reached for my bag from my seat, nearly falling. Dean catches me and I sit back up with a grin, "Got it" I took the papers out and started going through them, looking for the ones Bobby had about Jack.

"We're looking for a Jack Montgomery," Dean said after a moment, his hands still around my waist. I looked down at them then back at Dean and he removes his hands, his face slightly flushed.

"I know, there's only one of him in the book. I was going to check it out tonight, he works during the days." I paused, "You guys wanna come?"

"Only if we take baby, not that thing you call a car out there," Dean says with a grin, quickly recovering from his earlier embarrassment.

I gasped in mock horror, "You did not just call Neo a _thing" _I asked quietly

"Neo?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow

"It's a dodge neon and I'm bad with names"

"Your dog is named Adrasteia and your cat is named Stygian," Dean said and I nodded at him, "And you named your car _Neo?"_

"You call your car baby," I pointed out and he huffed indignantly

I looked down noticing a throbbing in the hand that I had used to hit the wall.

"Shit," I said grabbing that hand, "I'm never punching a wall again, and I think I broke my hand."

Dean grabbed my hand gently and rubbed a thumb over my knuckles as I hissed at the contact.

"Let me wrap it," Sam said standing up and I shook my head. I trusted my animal's instincts more than my own and if they thought something was off about Sam then so did I.

"Devin?" Dean asked and I looked at him then at the cat and dog that were currently on the opposite side of the room from Sam watching him warily. Dean saw what I was looking at and nodded, "I got it Sam, you do the research crap you're so good at."

Sam scoffed but wisely stayed quiet as Dean prepared to wrap my hand. I sat on one of the beds drinking holy water and waited for Dean to be ready. He was surprisingly gentle when he wrapped my hand, it barely hurt.

"There," Dean said, cutting the bandage, "Dev," I glanced at him and saw the pleading look in his eyes, "we're good now, right? I really am sorry."

I looked at Dean for a moment before nodding. He grinned at me as he stood up and I couldn't help but grin back. Damn Dean Winchester and his gorgeous smile.

I stood up and grabbed my bag before going into the bathroom to change out of the pajamas I was still wearing and into dark brown skinny jeans, a plain dark green long sleeved shirt, and my light brown hiking boots. Once I was in actual clothes I brushed my long red hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.

Exiting the bathroom I noticed that Dean and my very picky animals were cuddled on the bed as Dean searched through channels on the TV. I smiled and put my bag down before joining him on that bed.

"Anything good?" I asked and Dean looked over at me startled.

"How the fucking hell do you do that Dev?" Dean asked

"Do what?" I questioned not looking at Dean.

"Sneak up on me all the time, I hardly even notice you're there."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" I asked finally looking at Dean with a mischievous smile on my face.

Dean took a few moments to reply, "Yes?" He said cautiously.

"That was a two part question, Dean, you can't answer yes" I said with a smile, leaning against the wall behind the bed. We remain silent as Dean finally settled on a channel.

What felt like minutes but must have been a few hours later Dean shook me awake. I sat up and looked at him with sleepy smile, I hadn't had a nightmare. There was something about being with Dean that seemed to prevent them.

"Morning Deano" I said before reaching for my flask that should have been on the side of the bed. When I can't find it I look at Dean and see him holding the flask away from me.

"Get up first, sleepy head, then you can have your holy water." Dean says with a grin.

I try not to freak out, not to let Dean see the panic that I was feeling. Hell, I didn't even know why I was feeling it. I hadn't had a nightmare when I was sleeping. All I had to do was get out of bed and I would have the holy water back. I glanced at Dean and noticed that he was watching me with a frown.

"Dean," I muttered and my voice cracked in a way that made me feel weak and I hated it.

Dean was by my side quickly, handing me the flask and rubbing my back through the little panic attack. I took a swig of the drink, calming down almost instantly. I looked at Dean with a small smile, hating how much I relied on the holy water.

"Thanks," I said quietly and Dean gave me a strained smile, "No seriously Dean, it's not your fault. I don't even know why I freaked. Just… Don't worry about it."

Dean nodded slowly and I got off the bed looking around to see that Sam wasn't in there. For which I was thankful, I didn't want him to see just how bad my addiction to Holy water was. I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and quickly fixed it into a bun at the nape of my neck before following Dean out to the impala.

I smiled to see Adrasteia and Stygian in the front seat waiting for me. I get into the front seat and wait to pull out my phone until Dean is in the car. Sam gives Dean and address and Dean pulls out of the driving spot, following Sam's directions to the house.

Once we get there Dean reaches over me to pull binoculars out of the glove box. He hands a setback to Sam and I wait for them to both get a look, petting Adrasteia's head absently.

"Are you sure that's him?" Dean said lowering the binoculars he was looking through before handing them to me

"Only jack Montgomery in town. As Devin said earlier." Sam replied with a shrug "And Travis said to keep an eye out for anything weird."

"Weird?" I asked glancing at Sam before handing the binoculars back to Dean. The man in the house, Jack, was boring. All he was doing was drinking beer. It was so… mundane.

"Yeah." Sam said

"All right, well, yeah, I've seen big weird, little weird, Weird with crazy on top. But this guy? I mean, come on, this guy's boring." Dean scoffed

"I don't know, Dean." Sam said, "Travis seemed pretty sure."

Dean and Sam are quiet for a moment, watching the house. I try to see through the window but we're too far away and honestly my life would probably be easier if I had glasses but I haven't really had the time.

"I'd say that qualifies as weird." Sam said lowering the binoculars

"What would?" I ask turning around in my seat to face Dean

"Jack just ate a red meat burger, emphasis on the red."

"Gross," I commented turning to face the front and getting a face full of cat, "Stygian god damn I'll skin you if you don't get off." I growled moving the cat from his spot on the dash to where he had previously been by Adrasteia.

"Let's go back to the motel and see what we can find out about this guy." Dean said, throwing the Impala into drive.

Back at the motel Dean opens the door letting Sam enter first and then holding it for me. Inside the motel a man sits at the table drinking a beer.

"Sweet" I mutter throwing my bag on the ground as Adrasteia and Stygian move to my side in an almost protective manner, "did I pay for a room for everyone today?"

"Travis." Dean said watching the man, "See, Sam. told you we should have hid the beer."

"Smartass." The man said setting down the beer and standing, I liked the man already, "get over here!" The man pulled Dean into a hug, "OH, good to see you."

"You too." Dean said returning the hug before letting go so that Travis could hug Sam.

"Good to see you." Travis said to Sam as they hugged

"You too, Travis." Sam said pulling back

"Man, you got tall, kid." Travis said with a grin "How long has it been? Oh, got to be 10 years.

You still a - oh, what was it? A mathlete?"

"No" Sam said awkwardly

"Yep, sure is." Dean replied and I shot him a look, confused at his reaction.

"Been too long, boys. I mean, look at you - grown men. John would have been damn proud of you sticking together like this." Travis said and Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, I glanced between the boys then shrugged, it was none of my business.

"Yeah." Sam said

"Yeah, we're as thick as thieves." Dean said and I glanced at him, noting the tense set of his shoulders despite his apparent nonchalance. "Nothing more important than family."

"Sorry I'm late for the dance." Travis said as he and the two men took a seat at the table. I walked to the little kitchenette and grabbed myself some beer from the mini fridge before joining the boys, standing behind Dean's chair "Thanks for helping out an old man. I'm a little, uh, shorthanded." Travis held up his hand that was in a cast

"Same," I said showing him my hand and Travis seemed to notice me for the first time.

"Who are you?" He asked suspiciously.

Did I have some magical ability that made me invisible?

I glanced at Dean who shrugged then I looked at Travis fully for the first time. That's when I realized that I recognized him.

Three years ago a demon had captured Travis and had tortured him.

A demon in the redheaded body of a girl named Devin Quinn Ahearn.

"Shit," I said as Travis seemed to realize the same thing, "Travis no, I'm not possessed anymore." I made sure that Dean was in between the two of us before I continued, "Do you really think Dean and Sam would hang out with me if I was?"

I glanced at Dean who was raising his eyebrow at Sam who looked guilty.

No.

"Okay," Travis said disbelievingly.

I sighed and pulled my flask out of my satchel, taking a drink then tossing it to Travis who also took a drink, "Not a demon," I repeated.

Travis nodded and tossed my flask back to me before continuing. "So, you track down Montgomery?" He said addressing Sam and Dean, clearly not wanting to involve me.

"Yeah, we found him at his home." Sam said as Dean glanced back at me.

"And?" Travis prompted and Dean turned around to talk to the man.

"Well, he had a hell of a case of the munchies, topped off with a burger that he forgot to cook." Dean said

"That's him, alright." Travis said

"What's him?" Sam asked

"Boys, we got a rougarou on our hands." Travis said

"A rougarou? Is that made up?" Sam asked looking at Dean

"That sounds made up." Dean confirmed.

"They're mean, nasty little suckers - rotted teeth, wormy skin, the works." Travis explained

"Well, that ain't this guy." Dean pointed out, "I mean, he was wearing a cellphone on his belt."

"He'll turn ugly soon enough." Travis said, "They start out human, for all intents and purposes."

"So, what, they go through some kind of metamorphosis?" Sam asked

"Yep, like a maggot turning into a bull fly." Travis said, "But most of all, they're hungry."

"Hungry for what?" Dean asked

"At first, for everything, but then for long pig." Travis explained

"Long pig?" Dean asked and I snorted causing Dean to glare at me.

"He means human flesh." I explained

"And that is my word of the day."

"Hunger grows in till they can't fight it, Till they got to take themselves a big, juicy chomp, and then it happens." Travis said, ignoring our exchange

"What happens?" Sam asks

"They transform completely and fast." Travis finished

"Well that doesn't sound good," I said absently placing my hand on the back of Dean's chair.

"One bite's all it takes yes, teeth, skin all turns." Travis said ignoring my comment, "No going back, either. They feed once, they're a monster forever. And our man jack's headed there on a bullet train."

"Well, how'd you find this guy if he's a walking, talking human?" Sam asked

"Let's just say it runs in his family." Travis shrugged

"You mean, uh-" Sam trailed off

"O8 Son of a bitch mangled eight bodies before I put him down. Guy used to be a dentist Cadillac, trophy wife." Travis tilted his head to the side in a shrug, "Little did I know, pregnant trophy wife. She put the boy up for adoption. By the time I found out, he was long gone, lost in the system."

"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" Dean asked. I looked down realizing that my hand had moved from the back of the chair to Dean's shoulder without me noticing it.

"I'm not sure I wanted to." Travis said "The idea of hunting down some poor kid I don't think I'd have had the heart. No. wanted to wait, make damn sure I had the right man," he shrugged again, "Apparently, I do."

We all stood up then, I went to shower and Sam and Dean went to get their things from the car while Travis went for another booze. Once I was out of the shower I changed into a light brown sweater and blue jeans and pulled my hair back into a wet bun.

I left the bathroom to see that Travis was gone and Dean was on one of the beds, watching Dr. Sexy (Without me the bastard) and Sam was doing some research. I sat on the bed next to Dean. He didn't even look at me so I poked his cheek.

Dean jumped and gave the most girlish squeal I have ever heard. I laughed at him clutching my stomach until he grabbed my wrists, leaning over me, so that I would stop laughing

"How the hell do you do that, Dev?" Dean asked, again, watching me warily. I smiled at him innocently, pretending I hadn't picked up on the fact that he was unaware of my presence, "how do you sneak up on me, the only people who've been able to do that are you and Cas. And Cas is an angel!"

"I guess it's just something I picked up from him," I said with a shrug pushing back on Dean so that he was sitting down on the bed instead of leaning over me.

"Let's watch TV," Dean said awkwardly as he moved to the other side of the bed. I grabbed a pillow and hugged it to my chest as Dean did the same. We watched TV until we both ended up falling asleep.

"So, fire, huh?" Dean asked Travis as I woke up the next morning. They were sitting at the table working on something that looked vaguely like a homemade torch.

"The only way I found to kill these bastards - deep-fry 'em."

"Well, that's gonna be horrible." I remarked taking a seat between Dean and Travis.

"Is that what you did to Jack's dad?" Dean asked

"Not wasting any time, are you?" Sam asked as he sat at the table across from me

"None to waste." Travis said "The guy hulks out, we won't be finding bodies, just remains."

"What if he doesn't hulk out?" Sam said and Travis set down his work to glare at Sam, "I did a little homework. I've been checking out the lure on rougarous."

"Experience not good enough for you?" Travis asked

"What? , I- I just wanted to be prepared." Sam stammered "I mean, not that you didn't-"

"Sam loves research." I interjected, getting annoyed by his rambling

"He does." Dean affirmed, "He keeps it under his mattress right next to his k-y. It's a sickness."

"It is." Sam said, "Look, everything you said checked out, of course, but, uh, I found a couple of interesting stories about People who have this rougarou gene or whatever. See, they start to turn, but they never take the final step."

"Really?" Dean asked

"See, if they never eat human flesh, they don't fully transform."

"So, what? Go vegan, stay human?" Dean asked again

"Basically. Or in this case, eat a lot of raw meat, just not - long pig."

"Right." Travis said, disbelieving "Good on you for the due diligence, Sam. But those are fairy tales. Fact is, every rougarou I ever saw or heard of Took that bite."

"Okay, well, that doesn't mean that jack will." Sam said earnestly

"So, what do we do? Sit and hope and wait for a body count?" Dean asked

"No, we talk to him, explain what's happening." Sam said "That way, he can fight it."

"Fight it?" I asked

"Are you kidding me?" Travis interrupted "You ever been really hungry? I mean, haven't-eaten-in-days hungry?"

"Yeah." I said and Sam and Dean looked at me. "What, Demons don't eat when they possess you."

"Right, then." Travis said awkwardly, "Somebody slaps a big, juicy sirloin in front of you, you walking away? That's what we are to him now, meat on legs. I'm sorry. I'm sure he's a stand-up guy. But it's pure, base instinct. Everything in nature's got to eat. You think he can stop himself 'cause he's nice?"

"I don't know." Sam conceded standing up and heading to the door, "But we're not gonna kill him unless he does something to get killed for."

"What's up with your brother?" Travis asked and Dean turned to look at Travis

"Don't get me started." Dean said and we got back to work.

Travis and I worked for three hours. About an hour and a half in Dean gave up and moved to the bed to watch some TV show or another. I explained to Travis why I was travelling with the Winchesters and apologized profusely for the whole demon thing.

"It's ok, I mean surely you have a way to prevent it now." Travis said and I looked away guiltily.

"Wait, you don't have an anti-possession tattoo?" Travis said loudly.

I nodded as I heard Dean stand up and stalk over to us. I didn't turn to look at him, instead keeping my gaze on the table. He cleared his throat and I still didn't look at him. I knew he was going to yell at me and it made me uncomfortable how upset I was over the fact that I had disappointed Dean.

"Devin," Dean growled and I finally looked at him only to look away almost instantly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrugged and Dean laid a hand on my cheek and I flinched. I looked at him and noted the hurt in his eyes, and the anger there too. I looked away again. Why was Dean hurt by that? He knew what I had been through, what I had done. Although I didn't tell him about the little girl I had tortured with needles. The reason I hate them.

"Honestly, Dean?" I said quietly, "I didn't trust you guys until that hunt we went on last week. And I haven't really had the chance to tell you. And anyways…"

"Anyways?" Dean prompted when I didn't continue.

"It's nothing." I said looking up at Dean and not looking away this time except to glance pointedly at Travis, hoping Dean would understand that I didn't want to speak in front of Travis.

Dean nodded but gave me a look that said we would be speaking later. I gave him a small smile before getting up and refilling my flask with holy water and downing the whole thing then filling it again.

Sam walked back into the room and Adrasteia and Stygian just looked at him, not really reacting this time. I watched Sam curiously for a moment before shrugging and making sure that the torches I had been working on were good to go.

"Alright, so we're gonna go have a little chat with this guy," Dean said once we were in the Impala, "which, you know, I'm down. But I just want to make sure, If push comes, you're gonna shove."

"Meaning?" Sam asked

"Well, odds are we're gonna have to burn this guy alive." Dean said

"This guy has a name and a wife." Sam pointed out

"Yeah, who we're probably gonna make a widow, okay?" I said, causing Dean and Sam to give me an odd look, "I mean, you heard Travis. He's gonna turn. They always turn."

"Well, maybe he won't." Sam said watching me, "maybe he can fight it off."

"And maybe he can't." Dean said getting Sam's attention, "that's all I'm saying."

"All right, we'll just have to see, then, okay?" Sam said finally

"This is what I mean, Sam." Dean said "You sure your emotions aren't getting in the way here?"

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked suspiciously

"You know, nice dude, but he's got something evil inside." Dean said not looking at Sam "Something in his blood. Maybe you can relate."

"Stop the car." Sam said angrily.

"What?"

"Stop the car or I will" The impala stopped and Sam turned to face Dean "you want to know why I've been lying to you, Dean? Because of crap like this!"

"Like what?"

"The way you talk to me, the way you look at me like I'm a freak!" Sam practically yelled.

"I do not." Dean said

"You know, or even worse, like I'm an idiot!" Sam continued like Dean hadn't said anything, "Like I don't know the difference between right and wrong!" Dean gave Sam a look, "What?"

"Do you know the difference, Sam?" Dean asked. I watched the brothers confused. "I mean, you've been kind of strolling a dark road lately."

"You have no idea what I'm going through." Sam yelled again, "none."

"Then enlighten me!" Dean yelled back, finally losing his cool.

"I've got demon blood in me, Dean! This disease pumping through my veins, and I can't ever rip it out or scrub it clean! I'm a whole new level of freak! And I'm just trying to take this - this curse and make something good out of it. Because I have to."

"Demon blood?" I squeaked finally. Dean looked back at me while Sam continued forward.

It made sense though. It had been Azazel's plan all along. But it wouldn't be able to do much unless… Oh. He'd been at the Demon blood bar.

"Sam?" I asked looking at the man I was going to say more but Dean threw the car into drive and turned the music up loud, effectively cutting off any attempt I had at talking to Sam.

"Let's just go talk to the guy. I mean jack." Dean said when we got to Jack's house, keeping me from talking to Sam again.

It's not like I was gonna yell at him too bad. I understand the feeling of power demons give you. Hell… I've had Demon blood before. I just wanted to tell Sam it wasn't worth it. I mean, I liked the kid.

"Jack Montgomery?" Sam said walking up to the man we knew was Jack, "I'm Sam Winchester. This is my brother - Dean, and our friend Devin. We need to talk."

"About?" Jack asked.

"About you." Dean said, "About how you're changing."

"Excuse me?"

"You're probably feeling your bones move under your skin and your appetite's reaching, you know, hungry hungry hippo levels." Dean continued "How am I doing so far?"

"Who the hell are you guys?" Jack asked

"We're people who know a little something about something." I said smiling at Jack, "We're people who can help. Please, just hear us out."

"So what is it you guys wanted to tell me?" Jack asked after studying us for a moment

"You're a rougarou" Dean said. I'm sure it was with all the tact he could possibly muster too.

"A-a what?" Jack stuttered after he got over the initial shock

"A rougarou." Sam reiterated "Sounds made-up, I know, but, believe me, it's not."

"Alright, I've noticed certain things." Jack said nervously, "I mean, some strange things, but I just I don't know. I'm- I'm sick or something."

"Your father was one of these things." I said, getting Jack's attention, "Your real father. He passed it on to you."

"No. Are you guys listening to yourselves? You sound like you're-"

"Skip the whole you guys sound crazy, shall we?" Dean interrupted, I elbowed him. He glared at me and I smiled back innocently

"You're hungry, jack." Sam said, ignoring us, "you're only gonna get hungrier."

"Hungrier for?"

"Long pig." Dean said, using the word he learned just that morning, "You know, a little manburger helper may have crossed your mind already."

"No." Travis said

"It doesn't have to be like this, jack." Sam said empathetically. "You can fight it off. Others have."

"We're not gonna lie to you, though." Dean said, "it's not gonna be easy. You're gonna feel like an alcoholic swimming around in whiskey. But I'm telling you, you got to say no, or-"

"Or what?" Travis asked,

"You feed once, and it's all over. And then we'll have to stop you." Dean said. Seriously the guy had no tact whatsoever

"Stop me? My dad - did, uh, somebody stop him?" Travis asked licking his lips

"Yes." Dean said again and I groaned

"Get off my property right now. I see you guys again, I'm calling the cops." Travis said pointing out towards the seat.

"Jack, your wife, everybody you know, they're in danger." Sam said trying to get Jack to believe him.

"Now!" Jack yelled and the three of us turned to leave.

"Good talk." Dean said sarcastically, I elbowed him. He elbowed me back and so I pushed him.

And god Damnit the man actually fell. I shared a look with Sam before we both burst out laughing. Dean glared up at the both of us but neither of us stopped laughing until Dean was standing.

"Have a nice trip?" I asked when I finally calmed down.

Dean grimaced at me and walked over to the Impala. I looked behind us and saw that Jack was now inside watching us from the window. I winked and gave him a wave and turned back to see that Dean and Sam had left me behind.

Like, drive off in the Impala kind of left me behind.

Bastards.

I started down the street pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialed Sam's number. He picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?" Sam said

"Look behind you." I said simply

"Okay?" Sam said and I heard the shuffle of clothes

"What do you see?"

"Nothing?" Sam said

"And that doesn't seem wrong to you, why?" I asked stopping on the sidewalk

"Shit," Sam said and he hung up the phone.

"Shit indeed," I growled walking up to a bench on the side of the road.

Five minutes later the impala drives up and and I slammed the door after I got in. Dean and Sam both looked back at me sheepishly and I glared at them.

Seriously, was I like, impossible to notice or something.

This was the second time that I was left behind.

"Seriously, Dev," Dean said, pulling back onto the road, "why the hell is it that we can't sense your presence? At all?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, Dean?" I asked grumpily, staring out the window.

We sat in silence the rest of the way to the motel. Dean and Sam both glance at me guiltily every once in a while but I ignore them, thinking about what the hell could be the reason they literally don't know I'm near them.

Looks like another conversation for Cas.

I watch Dean and Sam from one of the beds in the motel. I could have booked a single room but typically I got two beds so that I didn't have to share with my animals. They were so spoiled and rotten

And complete absolute traitors.

Adrasteia was lying by Sam's feet, content with the absent petting the hunter was doing. Stygian was on Dean's shoulders. A scene I'd never thought I'd see... Ever.

I huffed and pulled took a drink of holy water before getting up and walking to the bathroom. Grabbing my bag on the way so that I could shower.

"What's got her panties in a twist?" I heard Dean asked as I shut the bathroom door.

After my shower I left the bathroom feeling much better than I had before. I put my things away and grabbed my laptop from the table where I had set it before we'd gone to talk to Jack.

I ignore the brothers as they talk about the case, instead looking them up. I realized that I really didn't know anything about them. I wanted to see if they had anything in the net.

Criminal records… Oh my god… They were stupid enough to get criminal records. Dean fucking managed to get out of hell but he had a criminal record. Dear lord nothing could be better than this.

"What?" Dean asked suspiciously, cutting off his conversation with Sam.

I said nothing, shaking my head as Dean stood up and walked around the table to read over my shoulder.

"Damn," Dean growled, "Why'd you have to look that up Dev?"

"Because I wanted to know more about you two," I said when I could finally speak, "but seriously, a criminal record? I mean, come on…"

I couldn't help but laugh. I could also tell that it was starting to piss Sam and Dean off, which just made me last longer.

"Oh come on," Dean groaned, "It was once!"

"Twice," Sam said, "That one time, with Pete and Diana."

"Twice?" I guffawed, not a pleasant sound at all but really, they'd been caught red handed? More than once?

"Oh no, this is perfect," Sam groaned, "Someone we barely know is learning all of our secrets."

Dean glared at his brother, I was touched by his defense of me but I didn't want to start a fight between the brothers.

"No, Dean," I said laying a hand on his arm, "it's fine"

Dean glanced at e before looking back at Sam.

"Really, Dean it is. If you guys want to know then ask. I mean yeah, I have secrets too, but I'll tell you what I can." I smiled reassuringly before going back to my laptop.

About ten minutes later Dean clears his throat and I glance at him before going back to the website I'm reading on the effects of different poisons to the brain. It's a medieval document and it's actually pretty interesting and accurate… and useful information, especially since it's the kind of thing a witch might use.

"Have you ever had a case where it wasn't anything supernatural?" Dean asked suddenly and I looked at him to see that he was hanging off the bed with his head resting against the floor. A position I took often when I was bored or thinking.

"Nah, not really," I said watching Dean roll of the bed and stand up, dusting himself off as he walked over to the table.

"You need an anti-possession tattoo." Dean said and I groaned, "Seriously Dev, you should have gotten one sooner than this, let's go."

"Now?" I whined.

"Now."

I sighed and got ready to leave. I made sure Adra and Stygian had food and water before going out to the impala.

When I made it out to the impala Dean and Sam were already there. I got in the back seat and stuck my head up in between them.

"You know if I get a tattoo I won't be able to participate in the rest of the hunt." I reminded the two of them. I felt a little panicky at that moment.

Dean scoffed, "A tattoo is gonna keep you from a hunt? Come on Dev, we've only known each other for like a month but you can't be that weak."

"It's not the tattoo, idjit." I said using Bobby's term for the Winchesters, "It's my debilitating fear of needles."

"Fear of… Needles?" Dean asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Debilitating fear of needles, like full on panic attack can't breathe. Why do you think I haven't gotten one yet?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I felt myself beginning to panic, "I think its best we wait until after this hunt."

"Fine," Dean conceded after a moment of watching me. "But you have to get one. We'll make sure it's tiny and on your back so you can't even see anything."

I nodded my thanks and settled into the backseat of the Impala as Dean turned the music up. After a few minutes the impala slowed to a stop. I sat up and looked out the window to see why we stopped. On bench by the road Jack was listening to something on his phone.

I noticed that it was getting dark and realized that we had been away from Jack for longer than we had intended.

"Where's Travis?" I asked, not seeing the man's car, "Wasn't he supposed to watch Jack?"

Neither Dean nor Sam respond, both watching Jack intently. I tried to get their attention for another minute before shrugging. They didn't even notice me slip out of the car and take off towards Jack's house. I had a bad feeling about Travis, he didn't seem like the kind of guy to wait for something to happen. He did seem like the kind of guy to do something stupid. I felt like that involved threatening Jack's wife. Which is not something I was going to allow.

I got there before Travis, apparently, judging by the fact that Jack's wife answered the door and she looked fine. She gave me a confused look and I smile thinly back at her.

"I know this is gonna sound crazy but I think you're in danger." I said, not able to think of any other way to get Michelle to listen to me.

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked suspiciously.

"I mean there's someone after your family and I'm supposed to help protect you," I pulled out my FBI ID that I'd slipped into my pocket before leaving the motel, "My name is Morgan Smith. Please let me help you."

Michelle nodded hesitantly and I gave her a smile as she let me into the house.

Inside the house she led me to the living room and I took a seat on the couch while she sat on one of the chairs. The living room was very nice, everything looked well cared for and modern. I especially liked the ornate fireplace on the wall facing the couch.

"Could you tell me what's going on?" Michelle asked and I nodded.

"Um, yeah. A few weeks ago there was a murder in St. Louis," I lied smoothly "And we have reason to believe that the murderer is after your family."

"But why my family?" Michelle asked nervously, "What have we done?"

"Absolutely nothing but we've been after this man since then and your family fits the profile of his previous victims so we're just trying to be safe." I said with an assuring smile, "my partners should be here soon and we'll set up everything we can to make sure you and your husband are safe."

"Thank you Ms. Smith." Michelle said.

I was about to speak when we both heard footsteps in the hall. I was up in a second and next to Michelle when Travis walked into the room.

"Devin." Travis said and Michelle shot me a look.

"Travis, what are you doing here?" I replied, ignoring Michelle's look.

Travis looked between Michelle and I before grinning, "I was here to clean up one mess that I've made but it looks like I get to clean up two."

"Over my dead body," I spat pulling out the gun I'd stuck in my waistband on the way to protect Michelle.

"That was the plan." Travis sneered despite the fact that I was aiming a gun at his head.

"Travis, you need to leave." I said clicking off the safety on the gun, "I'm not afraid to shoot you if you don't get the fuck out of this house."

"Yeah, whatever." Travis said.

He was irritating me so I shot.

Lucky for Travis I only hit his shoulder, it wasn't a life threatening shot so he would be fine. He glared at me and I stared back passively.

"You bitch." Travis growled, advancing on us.

Just then the front door opened. Travis spun to see Jack advancing on him.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house." Jack yelled at Travis, upset.

Not good. Very not good.

"And who are you?" He said turning on me, "Wait, no. I recognize you-"

Just then Travis leapt at Michelle and Jack very quickly grabbed Travis. I grabbed Michelle and pushed her back into the chair so that it would be easier for me to protect her until the Winchesters managed to get there asses to where they were supposed to be.

I watched silently as Jack pulled Travis away. Jack didn't look like he was going to tear Travis limb from limb but one could never be positive.

I mean, looks can be deceiving. I would know.

"Jack I need you to step away from that man." I said calmly, a lot calmer than I felt at the moment, "my partners and I will take him into custody and we'll make sure he never sees the light of day again."

"Stupid bitch." Travis growled lunging at me.

I dodged. It was stupid of me but it was instinct. Travis got a hold of Michelle and I jumped on the hunters back, digging my nails into his gunshot wound.

Travis howled and threw me off of him and that's when Jack jumped the guy. I grabbed Michelle and pulled her to my chest so that she couldn't see Jack tear Travis limb from limb. Michelle sobbed into my shirt and I could feel her wrinkling it. I ignored that and continued to watch Jack. He finished with Travis and stepped towards us, I raised the gun, holding Michelle tighter to me.

I was about to shoot Jack when the front door slammed open. I could hear Dean cursing from the entryway and Jack used my momentary distraction to run up the stairs.

I cursed as Sam and Dean entered the living room. They both paused seeing my still raised gun and taking in Travis' body.

I gestured towards the stairs and Sam ran up them while Dean walked over to me. I lowered the gun as he got closer and he pried it from my hands. Michelle was still sobbing as Dean and I led her out to the impala. I stayed with Michelle as Dean went in to help Sam.

"Thank you" Michelle said weakly as I helped the woman into the back seat of the impala.

"Just doing my job Ma'am." I said with a smile, keeping my arms wrapped around Michelle's shoulders.

"No seriously, thank you." Michelle said again, I looked down to see her arms folded over her stomach, Michelle saw my look and gave a small smile, "I'm two months along."

"Ah," I said, not sure how else to respond. I'd never really been close to anyone who'd been pregnant. Or children in general. I mean ya, I liked kids, but I'd never wanted any of my own.

We were silent for a moment and then Michelle pulled herself from under my arm and turned to look at me. "Who are you, really? And what is my husband?" The woman sounded a lot stronger than I gave her credit for so I decided to give her the truth.

"I'm a hunter," I said, "Things like ghosts, werewolves, vampires, they're all real. Your husband is a rougarou, completely normal and human for the first part of their life but then they start to change. They become a big fan of red-meat, eventually that turns to a craving for… Human flesh."

I watched Michelle pale and quickly moved out of the way so she could throw up outside the car as there was a light from one of the rooms in the house. Michelle looked at me wide eyed and I shook my head.

"I'm so sorry, Michelle."

"What about my child, will he be… a monster too?" Michelle asked after taking a drink of the water I offered her.

"Yeah, but he can fight-"

"No, I'm going to give my child peace now, they don't deserve to grow up like that."

"Are you sure?" I asked pulling out my phone. Michelle nodded and I smiled at her, "I'll have Sam and Dean drop us off near a place in town"

"Thank you, Morgan."

"Shit sorry," I said looking at Michelle, guiltily, "My name's Devin Ahearn."

"So that man, the one who attacked us, he knew you?"

"He was another hunter, most hunters don't believe in second chances, but I'm not like most hunters. Oh god that sounded so cheesy," Michelle smiled so I continued, "But yeah, I'll make sure nothing happens to you, Michelle."

Before Michelle can continue Sam walked out of the house supporting an injured Dean. I got out of the car quickly, Michelle stayed where she was, watching. I helped Dean into the passenger seat as Sam gets into the driver seat. I got into the back with Michelle before asking Sam to drop us off near an emergency clinician that can help Michelle.

"Huh?" Sam asked, glancing back at us in the mirror, checking for injuries.

"Sam," I said watching him closely, "Just do it, I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up."

"Devin, you don't have to go," Michelle said and I shook my head.

"Unless you have someone else to go with you then I'm going. This isn't something that anyone should go through alone."

"Thank you."

We sat in silence the rest of the way to the office. I'm about to get out of the car when Michelle grabs my shoulder.

"Wait Devin, you really don't need to come." Michelle said when I turned to look at her.

"You sure?" I asked

Michelle nodded.

"Okay but if you ever need help here's my number." I pulled a business card out of my pocket and handed it to Michelle. "Also I'll send you some information later on how to protect yourself if you want it."

"That would be nice." Michelle said before sliding out of the impala. "Be careful Devin."

"Sure thing," I answered with a grin.

Sam shook his head as he pulled away from the sidewalk.

"You told her about the supernatural?" Dean asked me, not turning to look at me.

"She deserved to know, I mean her husband was torched" I defended.

"Whatever." Dean said still leaning against the window

"You did the right thing, you know. That guy was a monster. There was no going back" Dean told Sam who ignored him.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Dean spoke again,

"Sam, I want to tell you I'm sorry. I've been kind of hard on you lately."

"Don't worry about it, Dean." Sam replied

"It's just that your, Uh - your psychic thing - it scares the crap out of me." Dean said awkwardly

"If it's all the same, I'd really rather not talk about it." Sam said and I rolled my eyes

"Wait a minute. What?" Dean asked "you don't want to talk? You?"

"There's nothing more to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you. I can't make you understand." Sam said. Although to me it sounded like someone who had just given up on trying.

"Why don't you try?"

"I can't. Because this thing, this blood - it's not in you the way it's in me. It's just something I got to deal with."

"Not alone." Dean said, I nodded in agreement even though neither brother could see me.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. These powers - it's playing with fire. I'm done with them. I'm done with everything." Sam said earnestly

"Really? Well, that's a relief. Thank you." Dean said

"Don't thank me. I'm not doing it for you. Or for the angels or for anybody. This is my choice."

After that there was silence. No one said a single word, not even when we got to the motel. I took a quick shower while Sam and Dean took care of their wounds. Then I had Dean look at my hand while Sam showered.

"I think it's broken." Dean said

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I groaned Dean smiled smugly at me and I glare back.

"Don't punch walls and you won't break your hand." He pointed out and I slug him with my other hand hard enough that he grunts.

"At least we know you're not as tough as you seem." I joked and he scowled at me.

I jumped off the bed we were sitting on and got my flask of holy water. I took a drink before going back to the bed and jumping on it so that I was facing Dean sitting tailor style in the middle of the bed.

"What?" Dean asked when I didn't speak.

"Let's do that tattoo thing tomorrow." I said

"After we get you a cast." Dean replied.

"Dammit. I was hoping you would forget that." I sighed flopping onto my back.

"No chance, Dev." Dean said and I turn to look at him, giving my best puppy dog eyes, "Not gonna work."

"Damn." I mutter turning away from Dean and curling into a ball on the other side of the bed to sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: Friendly reminder that Reviews are appreciated and I'll get chapters out faster when I have reviews :)**


	5. Barton Hollow

_I'm a dead man walking here_  
><em>But that's the least of all my fears<em>  
><em>Ooh, underneath the water<em>

_It's not Alabama clay_  
><em>That gives my trembling hands away<em>  
><em>Please forgive me father<em>

_Ain't going back to Barton Hollow_  
><em>Devil gonna follow me e'er I go<em>  
><em>Won't do me no good washing in the river<em>  
><em>Can't no preacher man save my soul<em>

-Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars

* * *

><p>Dean slapped my hand away from my back. Three days prior I'd gotten the anti-possession tattoo, the entire tattoo business hadn't been too terrible. I'm pretty sure I bruised Dean's hand because of how hard I was gripping it. But other than that I hadn't had a panic attack and I hadn't passed out, so I must say it was actually successful.<p>

They finally let me remove the bandage for the tattoo and I almost wish they hadn't. Before now the itch had been bearable but now I found myself scratching it more often than not, I swear soon I'm going to have a bruise from the amount of times Dean has to hit me to keep me from scratching it.

"The radio around here sucks." Dean whined turning off the radio.

"I liked that song!" I complained, turning the radio back on. The music playing was 1960s movie music that sounded like it would fit in perfectly with Dracula.

Dean glared at me and reached for the dial but I pushed my hands in front of his to keep him from turning the radio off. He swatted at my hands a couple times but that didn't make me move them, in fact I was more adamant in my attempt (and success) to keep them there.

"Dammit Dev you know the rules.". Dean growled

"Driver picks the music shotgun shuts their cakehole" I mocked and Dean continued to glare at me. "Yeah well, I like this song so we're gonna wait for it to get over before we turned the station off, capice?"

"Capice" Dean said, glaring at me as he drew his hand back

"Why are we taking this hunt anyways?" I asked, moving my hands into my lap but watching Dean for any sign that he was going to try to turn the radio off again.

"Jobs don't get much tidier than this, you know? Dead vic with a gnawed-On neck, body drained of blood, And a witness who swears up and down that it was a vampire." Sam explained, not for the first time.

Dean and I had been going back and forth with this question since we'd hit the road from Carthage to make it to Cannonsville, Pennsylvania. Where someone had supposedly been killed by a vampire. I didn't think there would be a case, but as Dean told me they had hit the road for less than that.

"No, I - I agree. It's a hell of a case." I said.

"A little more gusto, please." Dean grinned. He reached for the radio but I beat him to it, glaring at him until he moved his hands with a sigh.

"It's just the world is coming to an end." I said sticking my tongue out at Dean

"Things are a little complicated, you know?" Dean added, glaring at me.

"And I really want some damn pie, we haven't had a good pie in ages." I whined switching the radio off myself now that the song was over and I decided that the next song wasn't worth listening to

"It's true," Dean said, shaking his head in mock horror, "The last places pie wasn't good at all"

"Yeah, well, we can't save the world, not today anyway." Sam explained, exasperated with Dean and I, much to my delight "But what we can do is chop off some vamps' heads. Come on, man, it's like the good old days. An honest-To-Goodness monster hunt. It's about time the Winchesters got back to tackling A straightforward, black-And-White case."

"Well, not normal enough, I mean we've got a plus one to the party." Dean joked. "And we still got to see the new "raiders" movie."

"Saw it." Sam said

"Without me?" Dean asked, incredulous.

"You were in hell." Came Sam's excuse

"That's no excuse." Dean grumbled. I snorted and Dean looked over at me grinning.

"We at least gotta get some good pie" I said, Dean nodded.

I looked in the mirror in time to see Sam roll his eyes and I grinned at him. The rest of the trip was made in silence. Dean and Sam dropped me off at a motel to book us a room and get started on some research. They went to talk to the local sheriff and then they were probably going to hit up a bar. Dean was gonna flirt with the waitress, and probably going to get drunk as hell all things that I wouldn't mind missing.

Dean came back drunk as hell, as I expected. Though I was actually surprised that he came back as early as he had.

"Damn I feel like hell." Dean groaned before stumbling over to the bed.

"You look like it too." I muttered, getting off the bed and moving to the other one. The smell of alcohol making me nauseous.

"Thanks" Dean mumbled before kicking off his shoes and curling into a ball.

I watched Dean with a grin as he fell asleep. Sam still wasn't back but I figured that the man could take care of himself so I went to sleep too.

Sometime during the night I woke up sweating. I hadn't had a nightmare for a while and this one had been worse than they'd been before. It felt so real. I grabbed my flask of the bedside table and took a drink before looking over to see that Dean was also having a nightmare.

I got up and went over to him, nudging the man and then jumping away, incase he reacted badly. It's a good thing I did too. Dean flailed for a moment before sitting up, breathing hard and looking around frantically.

He smiled a little bit when he saw me and I returned the favor. Dean moved over in the bed and I grinned, joining him there. I felt ten times better already, just sitting next to him. I looked over to see Sam laying on the couch in the room and grinned at him.

Dean grinned too and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV and searching through the channels for something for us to watch. He settled on a rerun of Say Yes to the Dress that we had watched some other night. I reached for the only pillow left on the bed at the same time as Dean.

We glared at each other for a moment before I relented, moving to go over to the other bed and grab the pillow that was on it. Dean grabbed me before I had the chance, pulling me against him. I turned to him raising an eyebrow and he shrugged.

I let it be at that, deciding that I was comfortable. I relaxed back into Dean and he leaned back so that he was comfortable. At some point in between a mother crying about her daughter's dress and drama between two woman looking for a dress at the same time I fell asleep.

When I woke up Sam wasn't on the couch anymore and I could tell that Dean was still asleep due to his regular breathing. I decided not to move (The man makes a good pillow, okay) so I just laid there, watching the static on the screen with fascination, trying to detect patterns in the way that dots moved across the screen, until Dean woke up.

The hunt ended up being simple, a shifter with a monster movie obsession, it was boring actually. Soon we were on the road to our next hunt. I hadn't really been any help so I spent my entire time in the motel with Adra and Styg doing research. I admittedly hadn't been in the best of moods lately. Even my banter with Dean feels forced and I'm pretty sure the elder Winchester is picking up on that.

I don't even know why. I mean, the hunt went well. Cas wasn't being a dick, granted, we hadn't really seen much of the angel since he sent Dean and I back in time. He'd just pop in every once in awhile to check on us or something.

Even though I knew Cas had no choice in leaving me at that graveyard I was still kinda pissed at him. Especially since he didn't even check on me when I was free of Azazel. I'd spent four months on my own, running from demons, other monster, and even hunters. The ones who had been hunting the demons who had possessed me and thought (incorrectly) that I was still possessed, like Travis had (despite the holy water).

I guess it had a lot to do with the fact that I was trying to drink less and less holy water as my supplies ran out. I didn't want to run out in a situation where I would need some. But I guess my body wasn't handling it as well as I'd like so my emotions were out of whack and that was not really pleasant for me at all

We were currently watching a doctor perform an autopsy on a heart attack patient. Well, Sam and Dean were, I was sitting on the floor, trying not to throw up. Despite (Or perhaps because of) my time with demons it turns out that cutting open dead bodies was actually not something I could handle.

Shocker.

"First dead body?" the man asked cutting into Frank O'brien's stomach.

Frank O'Brien had supposedly died of a heart attack but he was the first of three supposedly healthy men to do so and Dean, Sam, Bobby, and I all suspected that something else was up, so The Winchesters and I had been sent to check the case out.

"Far from it." Dean said glancing back at me.

"Oh,good. Because these suckers can get pretty ripe. Hey,hand me those rib cutters,would you?

"Is that from a wedding ring?" Dean asked, pointing to something on the body.

"I didn't think frank was married" The doctor said before adding quickly, "ain't my department."

Well, considering he worked in a morgue I certainly hoped marriages weren't his department, that would be creepy as hell, and cultish to boot, if they were.

"Any idea how he got these?" Dean asked, pointing to something else on the body

"You know what? When you drop dead,you actually tend to drop. Body probably got scraped up when it hit the ground." The doctor explained.

"What?" Sam said after a moment.

"I-I can't find any blockages in any of the major arteries. Heart looks pretty damn healthy. Hold that a second,would you? Oh, sorry. spleen juice."

I lost my lunch, and breakfast, and last nights dinner I'm pretty sure.

Once I was done the doctor was out of the room and the body was (thankfully) put away. Dean was rubbing circles into my back and Sam offered me my flask of holy water, I took it thankfully, sending the boys a grateful grin.

They dropped me off at the motel for a catnap before going to visit the sheriff to get more details about the hunt and check up on another bit of research Sam had done. When they were done with their visit to the Sheriff's office they picked me up so that the three of us could check up on the information that Sam and Dean had gotten from the Sheriff.

By three that afternoon I was sitting on the couch in Mark Hutchin's living room sandwiched between Sam and an oddly nervous Dean. Dean kept glancing around the room at all the animals that Mark kept. Yeah, I had to admit that they kind of freaked me out too.

"Tyler, Perry, and Whitford. Just like aerosmith." Mark said with a smirk

"Yeah, small world." Sam said with a small grimace, I caught Dean grinning so I elbowed him in the side, causing him to glare at me.

"So, the last time you saw Frank O'brien?" I asked, steering the conversation in the direction it should be going

"Monday. He was watching me from his window. I waved at him,but he just closed the curtains."

"That's not creepy at all." I said and Sam elbowed me "did you speak to him recently? Did he seem different? Uh,scared?"

"Oh, totally." Mark said, I glanced at Dean who was looking around the room still." he was freaking out."

"Do you know,uh - do you know what scared him?" I asked, placing a hand on Dean's knees and looking at him with concern when he jumps a little, he normally doesn't even notice I'm next to him so he has to be pretty damn high strung to react to that.

"Well, yeah, witches." Mark says

"Witches? Like?" I prompted, seeming to take the lead on this interrogation, Dean was out of it, still glancing at the various animals, and Sam was obviously too concerned for Dean to do his job properly.

"Well,"wizard of oz" was on tv the other night,right? And he said that green bitch was totally out to get him." Mark explained

"Anything else scare him?" I asked sending a look at Dean who was starting to look pale

"Everything else scared him - al-qaeda, ferrets, artificial sweetener, those pez dispensers with their dead little eyes - lots of stuff." Mark said with a smirk

"So, tell me - what was frank like?" I asked after a moment

"I mean, he's dead, you know? I-I don't want to hammer him, but he got better." Mark said nervously, I raised an eyebrow at the man

"He got better?" Sam prompted when Mark didn't continue

"Well, in high school he was - he was a dick." Mark said making small gestures with his hands.

"A dick?" Dean asked, glancing at Mark, finally deciding to join in on the conversation

"Like a bully. I mean, he probably taped half the town's butt cheeks together, Mine included." Mark explained

"So he pissed a lot of people off." I stated, Mark nodded. "You think anyone would have wanted to get revenge?"

"Well, I don't-" Mark paused, "Frank had a heart attack, right?"

"Just answer the question, sir." Sam advised, more like threatened actually

"I don't think so." Mark confessed after a moment, "Like I said, he got better after what happened to his wife."

"His wife?" Sam asked, Mark nodded.

"So he was married." I mused

"Frank was really broken up about it." Mark explained

I noticed Dean eyeing the snake that Mark was now holding (I hadn't even seen the snake crawl onto the man). Dean nearly jumped out of his skin (haha) when Mark spoke

"Don't be scared of Donny. He's a sweetheart. It's Marie you got to look out for. She smells fear."

I glanced behind me to see a snake slithering its way over the couch and onto Dean's shoulder. I tried to bite back a laugh as Dean bolted out the door but failed miserably. I was worried about the man but this wasn't something one saw every day with Dean Winchester. I knew I was going to pay hell for laughing at him later but he made it so agonizingly easy.

"He's not really a snake person," I explained, standing up.

"Thank you for your time, if you have any other questions feel free to call." Sam said before handing the man a business card and letting himself out of the house.

Dean and I drop Sam off at the County Clerks before heading to Frank's to check out the man's apartments. Dean assuring me every two minutes we were there that he was fine and me not believing him because I hadn't even asked and he was trying to convince himself and not me.

We got back to the parking lot of the Clerks office and were waiting for Sam, Dean was laying with his head in my lap and I was playing with his hair, acting like I was looking for bugs like the uncivilized monkey that all humans were.

Eye of the Tiger started playing and both Dean and I started singing along. We were harmonizing perfectly fine, or so I thought, I'm slightly tone death, when Sam walked up to the car, startling Dead.

"Any luck at the county clerk's office?" I asked, when Sam got into the back seat

"I'm not sure I'd call it luck. Frank's wife, jessie, was a manic-depressive." Sam explained "She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over, strung up in her motel room - suicide."

"Any chance frank helped her along to the other side?" I asked, placing my hand lightly on Dean's knee as he started to drive, he jumped nervously but I kept my hand there and I frowned at the man

"No, Frank was working the swing shift when she disappeared." Sam said

"Airtight alibi." I remarked with a sigh, disappointed that we hadn't found our man. Dean's sudden fear of everything was starting to freak me out a little

"How was Frank's pad?" Sam asked

"Clean." Dean said, "Searched it top to bottom. No emf, no hex bags, no silver. So probably no ghosts, no witches, no demons."

"Dude, you're going 20." Sam said, looking at Dean with concern.

"And?" Dean asked, his eyebrows coming together

"That's the speed limit." I said

"What? safety's a crime now?" Dean asked, in a very unlike Dean manner.

"Dude, where are you going?" Sam said loudly, startling Dean

"That was our hotel." I remarked quietly, giving Dean's knee a squeeze as I glanced at him in confusion.

"I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal." Dean said before thinking better of that statement, "Did I just say that?"

"That was kind of weird." Sam agreed as Dean pulled an (illegal) U-turn to get us back to the motel.

"Do you hear something?" Dean asked "Am I haunted?" He was starting to panic "Am I haunted?!" He asked louder Dean was scratching his arm so I grabbed the perpetrating arm and held it away from Dean so that he wouldn't scratch himself raw.

"Dude. Look at this." Dean said, showing Sam and I the rash he'd been scratching at since we'd left Mark's.

Sam walked to get some food and call Bobby while I stayed with Dean, making sure he was alright. He told me to drop the subject so I did, Obviously the man knows himself better than I know him. We ended up staying in the Impala for whatever reason. When Dean explained that our room was on the fourth of the motel I had to agree that it was daunting.

"I just talked to Bobby." Sam said interrupting a very good rendition of Eye of the Tiger (featuring Dean Winchester and Devin Quinn Ahearn), by banging on the top of the Impala.

"And?" Dean prompted when Sam didn't continue and was just watching the both of us warily.

"Um, well, you're not gonna like it." Sam said cryptically

"What?" Dean said, his voice strained

"It's ghost sickness."

"Ghost sickness?" Dean asked, getting out of the impala, I got out from my spot in the back seat where I had been laying and stood in between the brothers, leaning against the car.

"Yeah."

"God, no."

"Yeah."

"I don't even know what that is." Dean groaned and I couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my lips.

"Okay. Some cultures believe that certain spirits can infect the living with a disease, which is why they stopped displaying bodies in houses and started taking them off to funeral homes."

"Okay, get to the good stuff." Dean urged, getting impatient

"Symptoms are you get anxious"

"Yeah." Dean interrupted.

"And scared," Sam continued "then really scared, then your heart gives out."

"Sound familiar?" Sam asked

"Yeah, but, Sam, we haven't seen a ghost in weeks." I pointed out

"Well, I doubt Dean caught it from a ghost." Sam said "Look, once a spirit infects that first person, ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu." I glanced at Dean as he scooted away from me, towards the hood of the impala, "Now, Frank O'brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected."

"Patient zero." I said absently scratching at my own arm "Our very own outbreak monkey."

"Right." Sam agreed before continuing "get this, Frank was in maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament which is where he must have infected the other two victims."

"Were they gamecocks?" Dean asked and I (barely) resisted the urge to smirk

"Cornjerkers." Came Sam's reply

"So, ghosts infected frank, he passed it on to the other guys, and I got it from his corpse?" Dean asked

"right." Sam says

"So now, what, I have 48 hours before I go insane and my heart stops?" Dean asked, incredulously

"More like 24." Sam told us.

"Super." Dean replied sarcastically as I groaned, super indeed, "Well, why me?" He was panicking again "Why not you? I mean, you got hit with the spleen juice."

"Yeah, um, you see, Bobby and I have a theory about that, too." Sam started slowly, "turns out all three victims shared a certain, uh, personality type. Frank was a bully. The other two victims - one was a vice principal, the other was a bouncer."

"Okay." Dean replied just as slowly

"Basically, they were all dicks." Sam finished

"So you're saying I'm a dick?" Dean asked

"No, no, no." Sam disagreed quickly, "It's not just that. All three victims used fear as a weapon, And now this disease is just returning the favor."

"I don't scare people." Dean argued defensively

"Dean, all we do is scare people." I pointed out

"Okay, well, then, you guys are dicks, too." Dean argued pointing between Sam and I

"Apparently, we're not." Sam said with a smug grin

"Whatever." Dean replied, rolling his eyes as I held up my arm that I had been scratching at the whole time

"How do we stop it?" I asked, feeling myself starting to get nervous.

"We gank the ghost that started all this." Sam told us, Dean and I shared a look, him looking scared and me biting my lower lip, "We do that, the disease should clear up."

"You thinking Frank's wife?" Dean asked, turning back to Sam

"Who knows why she killed herself, you know?"

"What are you doing waiting out here, anyway?"

"Our room's on the fourth floor." I explained

"It's - it's high." Dean added

"I'll see if I can move us down to the first." Sam said to which I gave him a grateful smile

"Thanks." Dean said, crossing his arms in front of him so that he wouldn't scratch his arm

"sure." Sam said, walking into the motel to get us a new room

Dean and I went to the new motel room and sat at the table, both of us distractedly scratching at our arms as Sam went to talk to Bobby a little more and get the rest of the things from our fourth floor room.

Every move that Dean made had me jumping and the same seemed to be true vice versa. Dean got up to get a beer (I assumed) when suddenly he doubled over coughing. I went over to him and rubbed circles into his back as he had the coughing fit. When he stood back up I noticed that Sam was in the room (I may or may not have jumped) and Dean was holding a wood chip in his hand.

"Everything all right?" Sam asked

"Oh, yeah. Just peachy." Dean said sarcastically, his voice hoarse.

"Find anything?" Sam asked

"yeah. Jessie O'brien's body was cremated, So I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost." I said, scratching my arm… At least I wasn't scratching my tattoo bloody…

"Hey." Sam said, smacking both of our hands, "Quit picking at those."

"How you feeling?" Sam asked, watching Dean cautiously, in case something else happened.

"Awesome." Dean said sarcastically, I noticed that it was a defensive mechanism for the man.

"It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again. I almost forgot what that feels like.

"Yeah." Sam said distractedly

"It's freaking delightful." I added

"We'll keep looking." Sam said still distracted. I recognized the look as one that Sam go when he was having a breakthrough on an idea

"You okay?" I asked, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder

"Dean. Devin" Sam said breathlessly, turning to us, "We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have - you two."

"I don't want to be a clue." Dean said, I nodded in agreement, even though I knew we were the best leads.

"The abrasions, this" He held up the woodchip that Dean had handed him "the disease, it's trying to tell us something."

"Tell us what - wood chips?" Dean asked, looking like he was about to cry.

"Exactly." Sam said moving to the table and pulling the laptop that we'd left there closer to himself. He finds the location of a saw mill just outside of town and drives Dean and I out there. I'd begged to stay back but they'd both been adamant that I go on the particular hunt with them.

"I'm not going in there." Dean said and I hummed my agreement, looking around the mill frantically.

"I need backup, and you're all I've got." Sam said

"You have Devin," Dean said and I glared at him.

"You're going in, Dean," Sam ordered and Dean scowled at Sam before looking nervously at the mill, "You too Devin. Let's do this."

"It is a little spooky, isn't it?" Dean said as Sam held a gun out to him "Oh, I'm not carrying that.

It could go off. I'll man the flashlight."

"You do that." Sam said offering the gun to me. I took it nervously, making sure the safety was on.

We followed Sam into the mill, I made sure that the gun was pointed at the ground, away from us. Every few seconds I checked to make sure that the safety was on. Sam pulled out an EMF detector and the thing started going off like crazy, making both Dean and I jump. We shared a nervous glance before turning back to Sam.

"Emf's not gonna work with us around, is it?" Dean said, eyeing the thing nervously

"You don't say." Sam said putting the detector in his pocket "Come on."

We followed him again until he held out a hand to stop the both of us and knelt to pick something up on the ground.

"What-" Dean started before Sam interrupted him

"shh." Sam hissed before reading the inscription on the ring that he had picked up, "to frank. love, Jessie. " Frank O'brien's ring."

"What the hell was Frank doing here?" Dean asked, looking around the mill nervously.

"No idea." Sam said, continuing on.

We stopped by a room with lockers where a banging noise was coming from. Sam moved to open the locker that the noise was coming from and Dean and I both prepped for whatever it was nervously.

Dean Screamed.

He screamed like a little baby.

And if I hadn't freaked too I would have been laughing at him.

"That was scary!" Dean said when he was done screaming about the cat (My cat, oh he's gonna get it when we get this damn sickness sorted out.) that was in the locker.

Dean took off running out of the mill. I picked up Stygian and followed, using this as my opportunity to leave the creepy place. When I made it to the impala Dean was pulling out a can of beer. He looked back at me, startled, then pulled my flask out of my bag and tossed it to me. I took the thing gratefully then we both leaned against the Impala, waiting for Sammy to be done.

"Damn I hate this ghost thing" I mutter, finishing off the last of my holy water. I'll need to restock as soon as possible. I know that if I break my 'no going into the hunting supplies' rule once then I'll break it every time and I can't risk that.

"Tell me about it" Dean replies and I glance at him sharply.

"Why don't you tell _me _about it." I said childishly.

"No you" Dean said

"Nuh uh, you do it." I replied, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Dean was going to continue our frankly ridiculous argument that no grown adults should ever have as it is below their dignity, when Sam walked out of the mill, holding a piece of paper.

"Hey, this is, uh this is frank's wife." Sam said, making both of us jump

"Plot thickens." I murmur to Dean

"Yeah but into what?" Dean muttered back before looking at Sam with a shrug, "Guess we got the right place."

"Well duh, when have I ever been wrong?" I asked, glaring at Dean. My expression softened a little bit when the man

"Well considering I've known you for less than a month, I'm gonna have to say that you've been wrong before." Dean said, letting himself into the impala.

"You can't possibly know that." I said once I was in the back seat and the door was shut. Sam was driving, seeing as how Dean and I would probably be going exactly the speed limit and that wouldn't end well.

We ended up back at the sheriff's office. Sam had looked up some information on the team that Frank had been on and the sheriff was one of the members, so we went to talk to him. Dean and I stood behind Sam, both of us shuffling nervously, as Sam talked to the man behind the counter.

"Are they drunk?" The man asked gesturing to Dean and I.

"No." Sam replied, glancing back at us to see that Dean and I were shoving each other in a manner that would suggest that we were, indeed, intoxicated.

"Deputy, according to this, Luther garland's cause of death was physical trauma. What does that mean?" Sam asked, turning back to the man.

"The guy died 20 years ago - before my time." The man, deputy, replied, "Sorry."

"Then can we talk to the sheriff?" Sam asked

"Um, he's out sick today."

"Well, if you see him, will you have him call us? We're staying at the bluebird." Sam said, handing the deputy a business card that he made and then leaving the room. I started to follow but Dean just stood there, looking at the deputy, our shoving game abandoned.

"Know what?" Dean said, giving the man two thumbs up "You're awesome."

"Thanks." THe deputy said, unsure of how to react to Dean, "Um, y-you too, I guess."

That's when Sam came back and grabbed both Dean and I, dragging us from the police station. We ended up at the hospital where one Mr. Garland was staying. Dean and I were both facing Sam, Dean was arguing and I was backing him up solemnly.

"This isn't gonna work." Dean panicked "Come on, these badges are fake."

"What if we get busted?" I added, also beginning to panic "we could go to jail."

"Dean, Devin, shh!" Sam urged us, "calm down. Deep breath, okay? There, you feel better?" We both shook our heads, "Just come on. Don't scratch."

He smacked both of our hands away from our arms and walked away. Dean and I shared a look and followed after him quickly, not wanting to be left alone.

"Mr. Garland." Sam said to an older man sitting at one of the tables in the room. Dean and I stood behind Sam, watching the man warily. "Hi. um, I'm agent Tyler. This is agent Perry, and thats agent Whitford - fbi. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your brother Luther."

"Let me see some I.D." Mr. Garland demanded and we handed our badges to the man

"Certainly." Sam said as he and I took a seat with Dean standing behind us.

"Those are real. Obviously." Dean said nervously after a moment, the man looked up at Dean with raised eyebrows "I mean, who would pretend to be an fbi agent, huh? That's just nutty."

"What do you want to know?" Mr. Garland asked

"Uh, well According to this, your brother luther died of physical trauma." Sam began before noting Mr. Garland's expression of contempt, "You don't agree."

"No, I don't." Garland said simply

"Well, then, what would you call it?" I asked, tilting my head to the side, a move I'd learned from Cas. This situation was so familiar to me that it calmed me down much the same way that holy water would, not nearly as much but enough for the moment.

"Don't matter what an old man thinks." Garland answered simply.

"Mr. Garland We're just trying to get the truth on your brother. Please." Sam pleaded

"Everybody was scared of luther. They called him a monster." Garland began, "He was too big, too mean-looking. Just too different. Didn't matter he was the kindest man I ever knew. Didn't matter he'd never hurt no one. A lot of people failed luther. I was one of them. I was a widower with three young'uns, and I told myself there was nothing I could do."

"Mr. Garland, um do you recognize this woman?" Sam said, holding out the picture of Frank's wife

"It's Jessie O'brien." Garland said, " Her man, Frank, killed Luther."

"How do you know that?" Dean asked, leaning forward laying his hand on my shoulder. I jump at the contact but otherwise don't acknowledge it.

"Everybody knows." Garland explained. "They just don't talk about it. Jessie was a receptionist at the mill. She was always real nice to Luther, and he had a crush on her. But Frank didn't like it. And when Jessie went missing, Frank was sure that luther had done something to out the old gal killed herself, but Frank didn't know found luther with a chain wrapped around his neck. He was dragged up and down the stretch outside that plant till he was past dead."

"And O'brien was never arrested?" Sam asked

"I screamed to every cop in town. They didn't want to look into frank. He was a pillar of the community. My brother was just the town freak."

"You must have hated Frank O'brien." Sam said

"I did for a long time, but life's too short for hate, son. And Frank wasn't thinking straight. His wife had vanished. he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the same, but that's fear. It spreads and spreads."

After a few more questions the three of us left, heading back out to the Impala Dean and Sam were talking but I ignored them, more focused on the rash on my arm, road rash apparently, then the words the brothers shard. Until Dean started freaking out, that is.

"You know what? screw this." Dean said and that's exactly when I tuned back into the conversation

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sam said, holding his hands out placatingly, "Dean. Come on."

"No, I mean, come on, Sam." Dean yelled, causing me to jump, " What are we doing?!"

"We're hunting a ghost." Sam said, confused by his brother's actions

"A ghost - exactly." Dean said, like the answer was obvious (which it kind of was) "who does that?"

"Us?" Sam asked

"Right." Dean said, "And that,S am - that is exactly why our lives suck. I mean,come on.

we hunt monsters! What the hell?! I mean, normal people, they see a monster, and they run. But not us - no, no, no. we - we search out things that want to kill us. Yeah? huh? or eat us! You know who does that? crazy people! We are insane! You know, And then there's the bad diner food and then the skeevy motel rooms and then the truck-stop waitress with the bizarre rash. I mean,who wants this life, Sam? Huh? seriously? Do you actually like being stuck in a car with me eight hours a day, every single day? I don't think so! I mean, I drive too fast, and I listen to the same five albums over and over and over again, a-and I sing along. I'm annoying. I know that." He paused for a moment, I was surprised at how long winded the man could be

"And you - you're gassy!" He continued, pointing to Sam "You eat half a burrito, and you get toxic! Not to mention you," Dean turned his pointing finger to me "You've been possessed multiple times and you're addicted to holy water and I don't even know if I can trust you cause I mean, come on, I've known you for less than a month." I shrugged "I mean, you know what? you can forget it."

"Whoa, Dean." Sam said as Dean started to walk away "Where are you going?"

"Stay away from me Sam, okay? Cause I am done with it. I'm done with the monsters and - and - and the hellhounds and the ghost sickness and the damn apocalypse. I'm out. I'm done. Quit."

"You know, if I didn't know that this was because of the ghost sickness I'd punch the guy" I said, turning to watch Sam as Dean walked away, "In fact, I still want to punch him."

Sam laughed before unlocking the impala so that we could both get in and go search for Dean, just to make sure he was ok.

"You know," I said to Sam after an hour of driving, "About that whole demon blood shit, lemme tell you, from personal experience, its not all its cracked up to be."

"Personal experience?" Sam asked

"I was possessed multiple times over a period of five years, Sam, nearly 400 different possessions, how do you think they kept my body on par?" I asked, finding myself more uneasy as the conversation I had started progressed, "god Sam I'm a mess."

"Devin?"

"I mean look at me, I'm addicted to holy water. I hate myself. I was an idiot. I got possessed so many times because I was an idiot. I fucking sold my body to demons for a man I barely knew and I'm pretty sure he hates me because of it. God I'm such a whore, Dean was right."

"Devin," Sam said watching me nervously as we pulled into the motel.

That is, of course, when the hallucinations started.

"You're right Devin," Sam said and I turned to look at him quizzically, "You're a whore. You've known Dean for barely a month and you already want in his pants. You sold your body for him and he'll never look at you like you want him too. You're too broken, Devin. You should just kill yourself, the world would be a better place."

Somewhere in the back of my mind, some place really far back and nearly impossible to find, knew that this was a hallucination. This was the same part of my brain that watched calmly each time I had gotten possessed, assessing the demon and everything thing they did, storing the information. The cool, calm, collected part of my brain.

The part that was not currently in control.

I could feel myself starting to panic and I began to detach myself from that part of my mind. An ability I had picked up early on, back when my dad would leave me with my uncle who was an abusive man. When my dad found out he made sure that my uncle was thrown in jail.

In this state of mind I was able to ride out the panic attack and by the time it was over I was exhausted and Sam had to carry me into the motel room. Lucky for him I was a lot lighter then I should be so it wasn't too difficult for him.

"We looked everywhere for you, Dean. How the hell did you get here?" Sam said once he'd set me down on the bed.

"Ran." Dean replied, scratching at his arm, looking at Sam "What do we do now? I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die, Sammy."

"No you're not," Sam said, watching Dean closely.

Dean's eyes went wide and Sam and I shared a wary glance. Sam walked over to Dean to make sure he was okay and I rolled over in my bed so I was facing away from them and closed my eyes, giving into the exhaustion that I always felt after a panic attack.

When I woke up Dean was talking on the phone with what I assumed was Sammy, due to the fact that Dean called the other speaker Sammy. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and just sat there, watching Dean until he hung up the phone. I was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. Dean and I exchanged a look before he went to answer it.

"Sheriff? What are you doing?" Dean asked as the sheriff pushed his way into the room.

"Why are you looking into Luther Garland's death?" The Sheriff demanded, glancing quickly between Dean and I

"Hey, hey, you're" Dean looked pointedly at the rash on the sheriff's arm, risking a glance at me to make sure I saw it "you're sick. You're sick. you're sick, all right? Just - just like me, okay?" Dean showed the sheriff his arm, not that it did the other man any good, he was still freaked,

"You got to relax." I said, walking over to stand by Dean

"Frank O'brien was my friend." The sheriff spat, "So he made a mistake. So I didn't bust him. So what? And you're gonna bring me down over that?!"

"No, sir." Dean said, stepping closer to the sheriff

"Get away from me!" The Sheriff yelled

"Al, you got to calm down!" Dean yelled back frantically, stepping closer to the sheriff, approaching the older man the way one approached an injured possum. With fear and a little bit of distaste and confusion. But mostly fear, I could see that Dean was beginning to hallucinate again.

"Step back!" The sheriff yelled again. He started to clutch at his chest and

then suddenly he was on the ground and wasn't moving. Heart attack.

I began to panic as I heard Dean talking to someone that I couldn't see. There was someone else in the room. I could sense the presence that shouldn't be there. I spun around from where I was standing next to Dean and was confronted by Azazel. But… He'd been dead. For a year at least. He couldn't possibly be there.

"You're not real" I said, backing away. "You're not real."

"Oh, but I'm still here, I'm in your body. No amount of holy water is ever going to clear out your system" Azazel purred, "You're stuck."

"No, you're wrong." I panicked, still walking backwards, away from Azazel.

"You know I'm not," Azazel growled, stalking up to me, "You can feel it in you. That's why you drink the holy water. You're pathetic."

"I don't need a dead demon to tell me what I am" I said. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, louder then it should have been.

"So you know you're pathetic." Azazel purred, moving to touch my cheek. "Perfect"

I could feel my chest starting to constrict, I closed my eyes, accepting the death that I knew was coming. I knew that I should have died ages ago. Back when I'd escaped Lilith and Ruby. Those two had kept me for a year after Azazel had been killed. But still, I feared Azazel more than I feared those two demon bitches.

Suddenly the pain stopped. I opened my eyes to see that Azazel was gone and Dean was also looking around the room. The relief I felt was obviously too much, seeing as how I promptly passed out, falling onto the ground with a dull thud.

When I came to I was cradled in Dean's arms and he was running his hand lightly through my hair. I opened my eyes and watched Dean for a moment as he watched me with a small smile on his lips.

"Hey," Dean said.

"Yo" I grinned "You know, I could get used to this."

Dean's eyes hardened, his smile dropped room his beautiful features, and I groaned internally.

"Dean, I was joking."

"I know, I wish you weren't." Dean muttered.

"Huh?" Ah yes, the most eloquent answer to any statement ever made in the history of mankind.

"Nothing," Dean said moving me so that I was sitting next to him, instead of in his lap. "Sam and Bobby should be soon."

"Okay," I said standing up and looking around the room. Sometime during my nap Dean had cleaned up, the sheriff was no longer in the room and what ever mess had been made by him had been cleared to the side. Hell, even our things had been gathered and were waiting by the door.

I stood there awkwardly for a moment before I suddenly felt nauseous. I ran into the bathroom and knelt by the toilet. I heard Dean behind me and wasn't surprised when he held my hair out of my face as I threw up everything I'd eaten in the past two days.

"Sorry," I said once I'd rinsed my mouth out with the sink water. I was out of holy water and what Dean had was in the impala, which was with Sam.

"Don't sweat it," Dean said, rubbing circles into my back. I leaned into the touch for a moment before sighing.

"We should probably check out or something." I said, rubbing my now throbbing temples. Dean thrusted something into one of my hands and I opened it to find two tabs of medicine. I gave Dean a grateful smile before taking the medicine. Soon my headache would be lessened, hopefully gone.

"Okay, lets get outta here to meet Sammy and Bobby somewhere." Dean said, leaving the dingy motel bathroom to pick up his and Sam's bags. I grabbed my bag and stiffened for a moment when Stygian jumped on my shoulder.

"I thought I left you with Bobby," I said to the cat, petting him under the chin.

"How does he do that?" Dean asked gesturing to Stygian

"He's a demon Dean, you should probably remember that." I said, pushing past Dean.

I felt Dean following me and I turned to see him looking at Stygian and I warily. I grinned at him and Stygian jumped to his shoulder.

"Dean, he's been my friend for years, he's not going to hurt you." I said when Dean jumped, "honestly the angels are more likely to hurt you than that cat is."

"Yeah but I just spent four months in hell and…" Dean trailed off and I called Stygian back to me,

"I understand, he'll leave you alone." I said, offering Dean a smile.

Thankful Dean accepted that and we both stopped outside of the motel as the impala drove up. Dean and I threw our bags in the back as Bobby let Adrasteia out of the car. My dog ran over to Dean and started jumping on him.

"I swear my animals like you more than they like me, did you bribe them?" I said, watching Dean with a smile

"Nope, I'm just charming." Dean joked.

"Sure" I replied drawing the word out, enjoying the easy banter after days of stress.

Dean drove us out to the mill to make sure the ghost was actually gone. Due to the lack of ghost curse placed on Dean and I we were pretty sure that the ghost was gone but we went anyways, just to make sure.

Once we were done looking around we went back to the impala and Dean grabbed three beers from the cooler that I'd insisted on putting in the trunk handing one each to Bobby and Sam. I watched as Dean pulled a flask out of the cooler too and handed to me. If I wasn't too busy drinking the holy water from the flask I would have kissed the man.

"So you guys rode of ghosts with a chain?" Dean asked, leaning against the impala next to me

"Iron chain etched with a spell word." Bobby said

Dean hummed his appreciation "Now, that's a new one."

"It was what he was most afraid of." Bobby said simply

"It was pretty brutal, though." Sam added

"On the upside, we're still alive, so, uh, go, team." Dean said pumping his fist awkwardly into the air. I laughed at him and he turned one of his easy grins on me.

"Yeah." Sam said, taking a drink of the beer, "how you feeling, by the way?"

"Fine." Dean said

"You sure, Dean?" Bobby asked, trying not to laugh "Cause this line of work can get awful scary."

"I'm fine." Dean growled "You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything."

"Aw. he's adorable." Sam said earning a glare from Dean

"Absolutely charming." I agreed, Dean turned his glare on me and I just grinned at him, eventually he turned to face Bobby as the man started talking

"I got to get out of here." Bobby said, finishing off his beer. "You boys drive safe."

I cleared my throat, glaring at Bobby, "You too, Dev." Bobby added, grinning.

"You too, Bobby." Sam said, grinning

"Hey, thanks." Dean and I called to Bobby's retreating figure. He just raised his hand in farewell before hopping in his truck.

I turned to glare at Dean, "Don't talk at the same time as me, it's creepy."

"I could say the same thing to you, Devin." Dean said, also glaring.

"Don't, that's creepy." I replied

"You're creepy." Dean argued

"No you," I replied, childishly.

"Nuh uh," Dean said getting into the drivers seat of the impala

"Yeah huh," I replied, getting into the passenger seat while Sam got into the back with Stygian and Adrasteia.

Sam chuckled, "Okay children, knock it off"

"Children?" I scoffed, glancing back at Sam, "I do believe we are both older than you?"

"What?" The brothers said together both glancing at me

"What?" I said glancing around the Impala before understanding came to me, I narrowed my eyes are them, "How old do you think I am?"

"Uh," Dean said, "22, maybe 23?"

"Same for me," Sam added.

"Oh, well, thanks, I guess?" I said, before I broke out laughing.

"Wait, how old are you?" Dean asked.

"Never ask a lady how old she is, Dean." I said, suddenly going serious,

Dean got the guiltiest look on his face and I couldn't help laughing again. After a few minutes of driving and a serious bout of hiccups I was able to calm down.

"I'm twenty eight." I told the brothers.

"No shit." Dean said, glancing at me.

"You guys seriously thought I was 23?" I asked, "I know I'm short but seriously?"

"Sorry," Sam offered, which made me laugh again until my stomach started to hurt.

Adrasteia jumped over the seat and crawled into my lap, licking my face. I pushed the dog onto the floor, grinning at her.

"I'm okay, love," I said, watching the dog, "Just completely and entirely amused"

After that the conversation lulled, Adra was banished to the back of the Impala again and I was singing along to Led Zeppelin's _Heartbreaker_. When the song was over (Dean had joined somewhere in the middle) Sam started talking so Dean turned the music down

"So, uh" Sam started "So, what did you see? Near the end, I mean."

"Oh, besides a cop beating my ass?" Dean asked

"Seriously." Sam pleaded

Dean thought for a moment before answering, "Howler monkeys. Whole roomful of them. Those things creep the hell out of me."

"Right." Sam said, obviously not believing him.

"No, no, just the usual stuff, Sammy." Dean said

I turned to look at Sam. "If it helps, I saw Barney." I lied, wanting to lighten the tension between the brothers (It worked)

"Barney?" Sam asked, incredulous.

"The purple dinosaur?" Dean added.

"Childhood fears die hard." I explained, "Sometimes one wishes that the damn things would stay dead."

Stygian meowed his agreement and the three of us started laughing. Stygian jumped on my lap and I reached over him to turn the music up, enjoying the sounds of Led Zeppelin's _Stairway to Heaven _and the comfortable silence that now fell between the brothers and I.

I fell asleep sometime around three in the morning and when I woke up we were stopping at a motel in some random town. I slowly got out of the Impala before turning to Dean, my face scrunched up in disgust.

"What?" Dean asked when he noticed me.

"We never got pie." I said forlornly, Dean just laughed and handed my bag to me. I took it before trudging into the motel room and getting the food for Adrasteia and Stygian set up.

When that was done I sat down on one of the beds, waiting for Dean to come out of the shower so that I could go take one. We hadn't really had the time to get cleaned up after the buruburu had been taken care of and I really needed to shower.

"Finally," I said when Dean walked out of the bathroom.

I grabbed my bag and got into the bathroom before Sam could stop me. When I was done showering I pulled my hair into a bun at the nape of my neck and pulled on light gray sweats and a old beatles t-shirt I had before brushing my teeth and gathering my things.

"Hey, Devin, there's a twenty four hour diner down the road if you're up for it." Dean said when I left the bathroom.

I glanced at the clock, it was almost four in the morning now, "Sure," I said shrugging, "Any time is a good time for pie."

I threw on my boots and a sweatshirt before going to the door to wait for Dean.

"You coming Sam?" Dean asked when Sam exited the bathroom. Sam shook his head and flopped down on the bed. Dean and I laughed and he opened the door to the motel leading us out to the impala.

Dean and I got a booth in the back of the diner and when we ordered our pie, Cherry for Dean, apple for me, we started talking.

"So…" Dean said, fiddling with his fork, "What did you really see? At the end of that shit?"

"Azazel," I said, it was easier to talk to Dean, knowing we had been in a similar position, "What did you see?"

"Lilith," Dean said after a moment.

"Shit man," I hissed, "I can't wait to gank the bitch. She's caused more than enough problems for me"

"Lilith has?" Dean asked. I didn't explain further for a moment because the waitress brought our pie to us. Dean gave the younger lady a wink and I rolled my eyes at him before offering her a grateful smile.

"Azazel died nearly a year and a half ago, Dean." I said, sipping on the water that the waitress served with the pie, "Lilith only let me go when you um… went to hell."

"Why then?" Dean asked, "I mean, I'm glad she did and all, but why?"

"No clue," I said, taking a bite of the pie, it was heavenly. "I mean, I think it had something to do with the fact that they've got big plans going on down there, like… apocalyptic big, obviously, and she just… didn't need a meat suit anymore."

"Damn." Dean said "Well, I guess not everything apocalyptic is bad."

I laughed and reached over to take a piece of his pie. Dean glared and then did the same to my pie.

"I mean, with pie this good, I'm almost glad the apocalypse is happening." I said.

"Almost." another, familiar, voice added, making Dean and I jump. I looked over to see who the voice belonged to.

The man sitting at the table next to us looked to be around forty to fifty years old, I've always been bad at ages. He had short blond hair and a face full of wrinkles. He wore a black shirt and tan pants. The man honestly reminded me of Gordon Ramsay. He was watching us closely and quickly held up his hands when Dean pulled out his knife.

"Put the knife away, Winchester, I'm not here to hurt you." The man said.

"Whatever." Dean growled putting the knife away.

"Dean, knife, now." I said, finally realizing who the man was.

"Devin?" Dean asked, glancing between the man and I.

"Please Dean, he's safe. Trust me?" I asked tilting my head to the side.

Dean watched me for a second before nodding, sliding the knife back into it's hiding spot.

"But if you make any sudden movements I will fight you." Dean growled before shoving a bite of pie into his mouth.

"What do you want, Taco?" I asked, glaring at the angel seated next to us.

"That's Taco?" Dean asked, gaping at the man, "Why is he called taco?"

"Cause the first time I met him I threw a taco at him." I explained

Dean raised his eyebrow at me and I shrugged, "I panicked, I needed an extra second to defend myself and it was the closest thing to me."

"Ah," was all Dean got to say before Taco started talking to me again.

"I wanted to check up on you." He said in an accent that was somewhere between Scottish and British. "I haven't exactly gotten the chance to do that before now."

"You had four months," I growled, not really wanting to hear his excuses now, "Four months and the whole entire year after Azazel died."

"I couldn't interfere." Taco said

"Why not?" I asked

"Orders."

"From who?" Dean asked.

"My superiors." Taco said.

I rolled my eyes, taking a bite of my pie before turning to regard Taco again.

"As you can see I'm perfectly fine." I said, "You can skedaddle now."

Taco tilted his head at me and I glared at him, "You're not fine and you know it." He said.

I could feel Dean watching me but I just continued to glare at Taco.

"No shit I'm not fine," I growled lowly after a moment, conscious of the fact that we were the only customers so early in the morning. "I was possessed multiple times for five years, Taco."

"Dev I-"

"Five years." I repeated, not willing to let the angel speak, "Every time I was free of a demon I prayed to you. Every single time. Even when I was fucking free of the damned things I prayed to you. But no. You never came. The only contact you had with me in five years was to tell me that I _had_ to face the one person I fear more than death."

"Devin-"

"Just… leave, please." I said, wiping my eyes now that I realized I was crying, "I'm too tired for this shit."

"I'm sorry, Devin." Taco said, standing up. I looked up at him, searching his face for.. who knows what.

"Goodbye, Balthazar."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry this took so long, I've been busy and I'll be busy for awhile. If you want me to have a schedule for my stories you'll have to wait a few weeks so I can get things set up (probably) Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews. Keep 'em coming. Hope you enjoyed :)**

**Special thanks to emeliesaxunger95 and Cobbler1998 for your reviews :) serious motivation from you two**


	6. Poison and Wine

_You only know what I want I you to_  
><em>I know everything you don't want me to<em>  
><em>Your mouth is poison your mouth is wine<em>  
><em>You think your dreams are the same as mine<em>

_I don't love you, but I always will_  
><em>I don't love you, but I always will<em>  
><em>I don't love you, but I always will<em>  
><em>I always will<em>

_I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back_  
><em>(Well) The less I give the more I get back<em>  
><em>Your hands can heal, your hands can bruise<em>  
><em>I don't have a choice, but I'd still choose you<em>

-Poison and Wine, The Civil Wars

* * *

><p>After Balthazar left I pushed my pie away, sighing dramatically. Dean glanced up at me, also setting aside his pie.<p>

"Was I too much of a bitch?" I asked, glancing at Dean.

Dean watched me for a moment before grinning, "Nah, sweetheart, the bastard deserved it."

"Sweetheart?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

"What?" Dean asked, shrugging.

"Nevermind, we should head back," I emphasized my need to head back to the motel with a yawn.

"Fine," Dean said, standing up. He dropped a twenty on the table and led the way out of the diner to the impala.

The short drive back to the motel was made in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was the kind of silence you have when you're too tired to think of anything to say. Which I was. Too much crap had happened and I hadn't slept well recently.

"G'night" I mumbled as soon as we got into the motel room. I flopped down on the free bed and curled up into a ball using one of my hands as a pillow.

I heard Dean chuckle before I sighed rolling over to look at him as he walked into the bathroom. I shifted on the bed so that I could rest against the pillow. When Dean walked out of the bathroom I was asleep.

I wasn't expecting the touch on my hair, most people don't expect a lot when they're sleeping. One moment I was laying on my side, curled around a pillow, the next I was on my feet crouched low ready for action. Dean was watching me warily, backing up from the bed. I relaxed when I saw that it was him, only to hear the growl and hiss that belonged to a demon cat and a dog I'm pretty sure wasn't just a dog.

"'M sorry." I mumble, sitting down on the bed, before hissing at the cat and dog "Stygian, Adrasteia, shut up."

They both stopped, going back to sleep. I watched Dean visibly relax and offered him a small smile. He returned the smile warily before moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

"It's a good thing you don't sleep with a knife under your pillow." Dean said lowly, a voice that the man definitely shouldn't be allowed to have.

"Just this once," I said, moving to sit next to Dean, "Though, you probably shouldn't do… whatever it was you were doing… When I'm sleeping. I'm pretty high-strung."

"I noticed," Dean said, I looked at him, noting the small smile, my own lips curving to match it.

"Seriously though, what were you doing?" I asked, turning a little to get a better look at his face.

Dean cleared his throat before answering gruffly, "I have no clue."

If that didn't perfectly sum up my entire life I didn't know what did.

I'd been with the Winchester's for a little over a month and I had no clue what was going on between Dean Winchester and I. There was obviously something there but I was too chicken to bring it up. Mostly because _I had no clue _what was going on.

"Dean" I said

"Devin" Dean said at the same time.

We both glanced at each other before we broke out laughing. Sam turned over in his bed so he was laying on his side facing away from him. I smacked Dean lightly on the shoulder and he turned to look at me, grinning as I brought my finger to my lips, the universal signal to be quiet and all.

"He can sleep through anything." Dean whispered, quieting down despite the statement.

"Anything?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dammit Devin." Dean growled, getting up.

"Wait." I said dumbly as Dean walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, "What?"

Dean spun around walking back to me quickly. The angry look on his face would have scared me on any other man but somehow I knew that Dean wasn't angry at me. Sure, it was obviously something to do with me, but no. He wasn't angry at me.

"What is it?" Dean nearly growls, Stygian and Adra are up in an instant and I shake my head at them, Dean continues, calmer, when I nod, "What is going on between us?"

"I don't know." I mutter, "but whatever it is it helps. Dean, I haven't had a nightmare in the past two weeks. Except when we're separated. And it scares the hell out of me. I don't like being attached and I can see myself becoming attached to you. And I don't think I would be able to handle it- If something happened… I'm scared."

"I'm terrified, Devin." Dean said, sitting down next to me again, his closeness was comforting, as was the softness of his voice, "I'm broken, I'm… I shouldn't be this comfortable talking with you."

He stood up again, taking a drink of his beer before walking into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I sighed, stood up and walked over to the bathroom door, tapping on it once before speaking, "You don't have to talk, Dean. I'm not going to force you to do anything. But I'm here… I'll be here as long as you want me here."

I went back to the bed, this time crawling under the blankets. That was the biggest of any kind of confession that I've ever made. I wanted to be Dean's friend. More than that I wanted to be a part of his life and that was, as I've said previously, terrifying.

Naturally, seeing as nothing in my life ever panned out the way I hoped it would, I woke up from a nightmare not even two hours later. I sat up in bed, slowly remembering where I was and that I was, relatively speaking, safe.

Looking around the room it was easy to notice that Dean was also suffering from the horrors of his past. I slowly untangled myself from the grips of the blankets and slipped over to the couch, nudging Dean's shoulder to wake him up. He sat up quickly, looking around to gain his bearings much the same way that I did before his gaze settled on me.

"Thanks," He said gruffly, clearing his throat before continuing, "You okay?"

"I'll manage," I said, turning so I could lean back into the couch, I heard Dean settle back and I couldn't help but grin.

"Why're you still here?" Dean said

I turned quickly to look at him, rolling onto my knees, unable to keep the hurt from my expression, "I can leave if you want" I said before sitting back on my heels, watching Dean warily.

"That's not what I meant." Dean growled, grabbing my hand and pulling me back down from my half standing position. "I was wondering why you didn't go back to bed?"

I didn't reply for a moment, slowly relaxing back against the couch like I had been earlier. Dean cleared his throat and I turned to look at him for a second before responding.

"Nightmares, I don't wanna go back to sleep," I said

Dean hummed in response before I heard him shift on the couch. He tapped my shoulder and I turned to see that he had created a spot of me to sit next to him on the couch. I, of course, took the spot, leaning my head against Dean's shoulder as he wrapped his arm around my own shoulder. Evidently everything from our earlier argument (if that's even the proper term) had been forgiven

"Better?" Dean asked.

"Much." I murmured, already slipping off into a (thankfully) peaceful, and nightmare free, slumber.

The next morning we hit the road, heading back to Bobby's house. I was trying my best not to think about the conversation from last night. I wasn't sure why I bothered, considering I'd had two equally important and somewhat confusing conversations.

One with an angel who was not in good standing with me currently. And the other with a hunter who I was surprisingly and aggravatingly comfortable with.

Sam was oddly quiet. Not that I'd been expecting a lot from him but he wouldn't look at Dean or I. Even when I'd kicked him out of the front seat of the Impala after a food stop he barely spared a glance in my direction.

Dean and I shared a glance, mine questioning, Dean's worried. He shrugged and drove off. That was three hours ago and Sam hadn't said a single word. Dean and I talked quietly with Led Zeppelin playing quietly in the background.

It was pleasant.

The sound of Sam's phone made me jump and I smacked Dean in the chest when the impudent man started laughing at me. I'm high-strung, okay. I jump easily. I'm definitely a shoot first ask later gal.

"Bobby?" Sam said, he didn't speak for a time, listening to Bobby, "Yeah, okay, I'll let them know."

"A case?" I asked as Dean shut off the radio.

"Yeah, guy swallowed razors from Halloween candy that was pre-packaged." Sam explained, pulling out a map from somewhere in the back of the Impala (Man I really need to learn where things were hidden)

"Sounds like our kinda gig, how far?" Dean asked, glancing at Sam in the rearview mirror.

"Few hours gotta head south from here." Sam replied.

A few hours later found us at the house of the victim, Dean and Sam were talking to the wife of the vic, Mr. Wallace, and I was looking through the house for a hexbag because there was no way in hell that this case wasn't the work of a witch. And a damn powerful one if the hexbag that I just found was any indicator.

"Now, how many razor blades did they find?" Sam was asking when I rejoined the huddle that was happening in the kitchen.

"Three on the floor and one was stuck in his throat." Mrs. Wallace replied, "He swallowed four of is that even possible? The candy was never in the oven."

"We just have to be thorough, Mrs. Wallace." Sam said in that way of his that was highly professional but still comforting as hell.

"Did the police find any razors in the rest of the candy?" I asked gently from my spot next to Dean

"No." Was Mrs. Wallace's quick reply, "I mean, I don't know. I don't think so. I just I can't believe it. You hear urban legends about this stuff, but it actually happens?"

"More than you might imagine." Dean said to which I elbowed him.

"Mrs. Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?" Sam said

"Enemies?"

"Anyone who might have held a grudge against him?" Sam clarified

"What do you mean?"

"Co-Workers. Neighbors. Maybe a woman." Dean said tactlessly

"Are you suggesting an affair?" Mrs. Wallace asked, slightly enraged

"Is it possible?" I asked

"No! No, Luke would nev-"

"I'm very sorry." Sam interrupted, "We just have to consider all possibilities."

"If someone wanted to kill my husband, don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?" Mrs. Wallace pointed out, obviously more than a little done with us.

"Of course," I said gently, "however we have to consider all the possibilities, I'm sure you understand"

"Of course," Mrs. Wallace said, calming down surprisingly quickly, "is that everything, agents?"

"Yeah, if you think of anything else give us a call," Sam said, handing Mrs. Wallace a business card before leading the way out of the house.

"This is freaky," I said once we were in the Impala. I handed the hexbag that I had found to Sam before giving Dean directions to a diner which was kitty corner to a gas station because it was just that time of the month.

"I'll be like, five minutes, get me whatever you're getting Dean." I said as cheerfully as I could manage.

"Sure thing." Dean said, a confused tilt to his head. I winked and then split from the two of them to get the things I needed.

Upon returning to the diner I found that Sam was no longer gracing the diner with his presence. I walked over to Dean taking the seat opposite him and hungrily taking a bite out of the swiss mushroom burger that was nearly identical to the one Dean was eating.

"Where's Sam?" I asked after I swallowed the delectable bite I'd just been graced with.

"Went to check out a few things." Dean said, swatting my hand away when I tried to procure one of his fries, "You have your own."

"But they're always better when they belong to someone else." I pointed out "ah-ha" I said triumphantly when I managed to get past Dean Winchester's iron defenses and steal one of his highly coveted fries.

Dean glared at me and I simply gave him the most innocent smile I could manage which he just laughed at. I chuckled and then looked around the diner.

"See that woman?" I asked, pointing to a portly woman sitting by the door, reading a newspaper, "She's around 45, divorced, mother of two. One's in college, the other is just starting high school. She has two dogs, one fish, and she's highly allergic to shrimp"

"What?" Dean asked, staring at the woman, then at me.

"You heard me." I replied with a grin

"Yeah, but how do you know that?" Dean asked

"I don't," I said simply, "I made it all up, but it sure sounded good, didn't it?"

"What the hell, Dev." Dean groaned before we both burst out laughing

"Okay, so, what do we know about the case Dean, cause I have some theories but we need more research." Dean nodded so I continued, "We know its a witch, and its a pretty damn strong one too."

"How do you know that?"

"Contents of the hexbag. They were frickin' old and disgusting and as such the witch that used the hexbag had to be old and disgusting too. Now we just have to figure out who the witch and what they're trying to do."

"So… research?" Dean asked glumly.

"But first" I reached down into the bag I sat next to me and pulled our three bags of halloween candy, "first this."

"You really know the way to a man's heart" Dean joked, a grin

"I try ever so hard to please those of the opposite gender, it is my only reason for living." I teased, giving Dean a wink before picking up my mess and dropping a twenty on the table.

I didn't see Dean pick up the twenty and put his own on the table, though if I had I would have protested.

"Where to now?" Dean asked, catching up to me as I stopped by the Impala.

"Let's go get Sam, surely he'll have more information by now." I suggested, Dean nodded and we both got into the car.

"Open that bag and hand me a kit-kat" Dean demanded as we pulled away from the diner.

"What do you say? I'm not one for being ordered to do shit," I said scowling at Dean. I'd spent five years with people who had no manners, I wasn't going to let Dean fucking Winchester treat me like shit too.

"Please?" Dean surrendered

"Please what?" I asked, now joking. Dean obviously could tell that I was joking because he rolled his eyes and held out his hand for a kit kat. I handed him one and took one for myself. The next few minutes of the car ride were made in silence as Dean and I made our way through the three bags of discounted candy.

Around twenty minutes later Sam walked out of the building across from where we had been parked and Dean and I both get out of the Impala, needing to work off the nausea we felt from a few too many candy bars.

"Really?" Sam scoffed, "After that guy choked down all those razor blades?"

"It's halloween, man." Dean said

"Yeah." I agreed

"For us, every day is halloween." Sam teased

"Don't be a downer." Dean demanded

"Anything interesting?" I asked, getting back into the Impala for the short drive to the motel.

"Well, we're on a witch-hunt, that's for sure." Sam said

"No shit" I mumbled before adding in a louder voice, "I thought that was already established?

"But this isn't your typical hex bag." Sam continued, ignoring me… classic.

"I could have told you that," I said, louder now, "in fact I'm pretty sure that I did."

"No?" Sam questioned, I rolled my eyes grabbing the hex bag before getting out of the impala

"Goldthread - An herb that's been extinct for 200 years." I pointed out, once we got into our room, "And this is celtic, And I don't mean some new age knock-Of this is the real deal - Like 600-Years-Old real." Dean grabbed a piece of the hex bag, "And, uh that is the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby."

"Oh, gross." Dean said, dropping the bone

"Relax, man." I said laughing, "It's, like, at least 100 years old."

"Oh, right, like that makes it better?" Dean said, sitting down at one of the chairs at the table, Sam and I took the other two, "Witches, man. They're so freaking skeevy."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "Well, it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. More juice than we've ever dealt with before,that's for sure."

"What about you - Find anything on the victim?" Sam asked,

Dean pulled out pieces of paper that I didn't even realize he had, "This Luke Wallace - he was so vanilla that he made vanilla seem spicy. I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead."

"Well, you're thinking of this like some kind of revenge gig," I pointed out, Sam and Dean watching me as I pulled Sam's laptop to me, guessing his password, "Too easy man."

"Wh-" Sam started indignantly before I interrupted him

"I'm not helpless." I pointed out, shoving an accusing finger into the chest of the younger Winchester.

"Never said you were," Dean grunted, standing up and walking to the mini fridge to grab a beer.

"How the hell did you guess that?" Sam asked, looking from me to the laptop, his jaw slack.

"I saw you type it like the first week I knew you, man," I said, grinning, "You really should change it more often."

Sam groaned and I started pulling up the sites that I would need, "It's for a ritual, a certain number of sacrifices are made, three in this case, Shit."

"What?" Dean asked, placing a hand on my shoulder and leaning over me to read the screen.

"Someone's trying to raise Samhain, the final ritual takes place on the final day of the final harvest." I explained.

"Halloween?" Sam asked,

"Yeah." I said pulling up the police scanner that the town luckily had a website for. "There's been another one. We should go check it out."

Dean and Sam met me in the Impala, having changed into their suits quicker than I could change into mine.

"What's the M.O on this one, Dev?" Dean asked, pulling away from the motel and following the directions Sam gave him from the front seat.

"From what I gathered there was a party and a girl was bobbing for apples and the water started to… boil." I explained, pulling my phone out of my bag and pulling up the scanner again, "Yeah, boiled beauty is what this kid is telling the police, sick."

"freaky." Was all Dean was willing to comment on the matter.

The house was large. A three storey, white washed, white picket fence. The trim on the shuttered windows was creme and the grass had obviously just been installed. There were three statues placed throughout the large yard.

I wrinkled my nose at the distasteful Halloween decorations that seemed haphazardly placed throughout the yard. To the right of the walkway was a fake grave with plastic bones littering the ground in front of it. To the left there was a large evergreen with a plastic skeleton hanging from a rope around its neck on the lowest hanging branch.

"Disgusting." I muttered as I caught up with Dean and Sam who were getting ready to talk to one of the first responders who wasn't busy getting the partying teens out of the house.

"Hello," I said to the older man in front of us, not trusting Dean to talk without making some snide comment, "I'm agent Perry, these are my partners Seger and Helland, FBI"

"Oh," The man said before gesturing us to follow him.

Inside there was a young woman talking to a couple local detectives. She had long curly blond hair, a figure that most woman would kill for. A figure that I would much rather be without, too many instances of drunk men trying to get into my pants flashed through my mind as Dean and Sam pulled to a stop behind me.

"I got this one." Dean said as I turned around to see why they had stopped, Dean was watching the young blond in a way that made my stomach twist. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest and huffing my impatience.

"Two words - Jailbait." Sam said to Dean, one eyebrow raised

"I would never." Dean said, mock offended,

"Jailbait is one word." I pointed out to Sam with a grin before turning to catch up with the officer who was waiting patiently for us.

"I'm Agent Perry, these are my partners Seger and Helland." I said, introducing us to the blond.

"I'm Tracy," The girl said, wrapping her arms around her stomach eyes glancing quickly and Dean and Sam who were behind me.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Sam asked, his voice kind.

"You know, it's just so weird. I mean, the water in the tub - It wasn't hot." Tracy explained, gesturing to the tub that two officers were examining warily, "I had just been in there myself."

"You friend didn't happen to know a man named Luke Wallace?" Dean asked with all the tact he could manage, which was none, as usual.

"Um, who's Luke Wallace?" Tracy asked, shifting her weight to the right

"He died yesterday." Sam said by way of explanation

"I don't know who that is." Tracy said

I nodded absently before turning and stalking out of the house, leaving a bewildered Sam and Dean behind. I stopped right outside of the house and stepped to the side. Shortly after Dean and Sam stepped out and… walked right past me… Frigues.

"Devin?" Dean called.

I sighed before walking past the brothers, grinning at their gasps of shock. I could use this whole 'Devin Ahearn is invisible' thing to my advantage.

"Why'd you storm out like that?" Dean questioned as he unlocked the impala.

"Call it a woman's intuition or maybe the fact that I can spot a tell a mile away but Tracy's lying." I explained, getting into the back seat of the Impala.

"A tell?" Dean asked

"Something someone does when they're lying. Your tell is hard to spot Dean, took me a while, but the first joint of your left pinky twitches when you lie." I said, "Sam's tell was even harder because he does it all the time, even when he's not lying."

"What?" Sam asked

"Your puppy dog eyes." I said, "You have a constant poker face."

'What's your tell?" Dean asked pulling up to the motel

"A magician never reveals her secrets," I said, laughing when Dean turned to glare at me, "You're gonna have to figure it out yourself Deano."

We go into the motel and go about our own aspects of research for about an hour before Dean suddenly stands, pulling on his coat.

"I'm gonna go stakeout the Wallace's" Dean explained, "you wanna come or you wanna continue research?"

"I'm good with research," Sam said before glancing at me, both men expecting an answer or some other measly thing that would distract me from my work.

"I'll go," I said, surprising myself. I really had wanted to stay back and do research but my stupid body moved on it's own and there was no taking it back.

"I'm telling you, both of these vics are squeaky-Clean." Sam's voice came through on speakerphone as Dean and I sat in the Impala "There was no reason for wicked-Bitch payback.

"Maybe 'cause it's not about that." I growled, surprising both Sam and Dean, "Its a friggin ritual, You know, blood sacrifices and shit like that"

"What exactly are the, uh, blood sacrifices for?" Dean asked quietly

"The witch is summoning a demon. And not just any demon - Samhain." I explained

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Dean asked

"Dean, Samhain is the damn origin of halloween." Sam intoned from the other side of the line, "The celts believed that october 31st Was the one night of the year when the veil was thinnest between the living and the dead. And it was Samhain's night. I mean, masks were put on to hide from him, Sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him.

"He was exorcised centuries ago." I explained, "But the traditions stuck"

"Exactly," Sam confirmed "Only now, instead of demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy, and costumes."

"Okay, so some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?" Dean said, smirking a little

"Dean, this is serious." I growled, sacking Dean on the chest

"I am serious." Dean said, trying not to laugh.

"We're talking heavyweight witchcraft. This ritual can only be performed every 600 years." Sam explained

"And the 600-Year marker rolls around Tomorrow night?" Dean asked, looking at me, I nodded, Dean groaned "Naturally."

"Well,it sure is a lot of death and destruction for one demon." Dean added

"That's 'cause he likes company." I explained "Once he's raised,samhain can do some raising of his own."

"Raising what, exactly?" Dean questioned

"Dark, evil crap and lots of it. They follow him around like the friggin' pied piper."

"So we're talking ghosts."

"Yeah."

"Zombies?"

"Mm-Hmm." Sam hummed

"Leprechauns?"

"Dean." I said reproachfully

"Those little dudes are scary." Dean explained, "Small hands."

"Look," I interrupted "it just starts with ghosts and ghouls. This sucker keeps on going, By night's end,we are talking every awful thing we've ever seen, everything we fight all in one place.

It's gonna be a slaughterhouse."

"Well that's friggin fantastic." Dean groaned

"No shit." I said turning to look at Dean, "Do you guys just ignore what I say or something, because I'm pretty sure I mentioned this shit earlier."

"No… It's just… You're kind of easy to forget." Dean said awkwardly

"Wow, that makes me fuckin' feel better," I said, feeling my chest tighten a little. There was a burning in the back of my eyes but I ignored it, opting to look out the window at the Wallace household and ignore Dean as well.

"That's not what I meant, Devin." Dean said after a moment of silence. Seemingly realizing what it was he had said. "Devin?"

"Whatever." I growled

On the street leading to the Wallace's was Tracy the liar. She was met at the door by Mrs. Wallace who was smiling sadly and handing over her son to the cheerleader.

"Liar." I said louder than I had intended

"What?" Dean questioned looking out through my window too. Leaning closer to me then I was comfortable with at the moment.

I scooted away from him, not looking at the man beside me and thus missing the look of hurt and then the resignation that played across his face before he grunted and pulled back. Dean pulled out his phone, dialing Sam and starting the Impala at the same time.

"Dev was right," Dean said, glancing at me apologetically, "Tracy's a liar."

"No fucking shit." I muttered glumly.

How the hell did it get to the point that one sentence from Dean Winchester hurt so fucking much? When the fuck did it get to the point that I cared what he thought about me?

I glanced at Dean when we got back to the motel before getting out of the impala and walking around to him, grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving the vicinity of the car.

"What did you mean?" I asked quietly, almost fearing the answer.

Dean glanced at me his face scrunched up before rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced at me again before sighing.

"You know how you're really good at sneaking up on us?" Dean asked, I nodded, "Well that's kind of what I meant, we're so used to you that sometimes its easy to forget that you're here, or that you're real fuckin good at the job."

I raised my eyebrow, not really expecting that answer.

"Like most things with you, Dev, it's real freaky." Dean finished.

"I can get freakier." I teased with a wink before walking around Dean to the motel door, knocking on it and waiting for Sam's response.

"Interesting look for a centuries-Old witch." Sam commented wryly letting us into the room.

I walked over to the kitchen rummaging through the fridge for something to eat. I'd gotten some healthier food at the gas station and needed food before I started going off on the Winchesters for breathing.

"Yeah, well, if you were a 600-Year-Old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader?" Dean asked pulling a chair out from the table

"I would." I said, startling the boys. I ignored them, pulling out the salad I had bought at the gas station and searching for the packet of ranch that I was really hoping I hadn't thrown away.

"Mmm." Dean hummed appreciatively, "You look fine like this why would you want to change?"

"Huh?" I asked, turning to face Dean with my eyebrow raised, "I thought you went for the busty blonde babe?"

"Well, yeah, but have you seen how you look?" Dean asked appraising me in a way that with most men I'd have punched their nose in but with Dean it didn't feel like he was looking at me like a piece of meat.

"Um, I…" I said, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. I turned around and grabbed the ranch which was sitting on top of the little fridge. "Ah, yeah?"

Dean chuckled, before his brow scrunched up in confusion "Wait, were you saying you want to be my type?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, turning back around and shutting the fridge, taking my salad to the table, not making eye contact with Dean.

"Well, Tracy's not as wholesome as she looks." Sam, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, said. I shot him a grateful look, feeling my eyes burn with the telltale sign of tears.

What the hell. I hate being emotional, what the frick was this.

"Did some digging." Sam continued, "Apparently, she got into a violent altercation with one of her teachers. Got suspended from school."

"So?" I asked before taking a bite of the salad and pushing it away from me, scowling at it.

"Devin?" Dean asked, watching me with concern painted on his face.

"What?" I asked, finally making eye contact with him, "This shit tastes like garbage, I don't know why I thought a salad was a good fuckin' idea."

Dean chuckled, standing up and grabbing the salad, dumping it into the garbage before pulling on his coat. He turned and watched me for a moment, obviously noting the fact that I hadn't moved.

"You coming or what?" Dean asked

"Or what." I opted, "I'm not feeling to swell Dean."

"Swell?" Dean snorted

"Get out of here before I tie your ears together." I threatened, Sam laughed, shaking his head as he ushered Dean out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

I stood up and fixed the salt line that one of the boys had done at some point, I assumed it was Sam since I was with Dean most of the time that we'd been here. After that was done I went to take a shower, the hot water helping to relieve the pain of the cramps that I felt in the base of my stomach.

After getting redressed and drying my hair I went back into the main room nearly giving myself a heart attack because of the presence of two angels standing by the window in the kitchen.

"The fuck, Cas?" I growled, glad that I had remembered to bring my clothes into the bathroom with me, "Why is Uriel here?"

"We have some things to discuss with Dean." Cas explained stoically.

"He's not here right now, in case you didn't notice." I pointed out, dragging my fingers through the still damp locks of my hair, wincing when I pulled at a knot.

Cas held up something for me to see, "This was in your weapons bag," Cas said simply.

"Ah" I said, seeing that it was a hexbag, "I'm not surprised."

"Really?" Uriel asked.

"Does this look that the face of someone who's surprised?" I deadpanned, "Oh wait, you don't know what emotions even are."

"When will they be back?" Uriel demanded.

"Do I look like a fuckin prophet to you?" I asked raising an eyebrow and I pulled my hair into a bun at the nape of my neck.

"No." Cas said in his stoic manner and I grinned.

"Of course not, so stop asking stupid questions," I admonished as I crawled under the blankets of the motel bed, curling into a ball and effectively ignoring the two angels and hoping for a couple hours of sleep before Dean and Sam got back.

A couple hours later there was a commotion by the door and I opened my eyes to see Sam confronting Cas. I watched with mild amusement as Dean stopped Sam before noticing Uriel.

"Sam, Sam wait." Dean said, rushing to Sam's side "it's Castiel, the angel"

Dean glanced warily around the room, his gaze stopping on Uriel, "him, I don't know"

"Hello, Sam." Castiel greeted, I snorted, closing my eyes and cuddling back into the bed, ignoring the men in the room

"Oh, my god." I heard Sam gush "Er, uh, I didn't mean to - Sorry. It's an honor.

Really, I-I've heard a lot about you."

"And I, you." Castiel greeted, "Sam Winchester - The boy with the demon blood. Glad to hear you've ceased your extracurricular activities. Let's keep it that way."

"Yeah, okay, chuckles." Dean said, interrupting Cas "Who's your friend?"

"This raising of Samhain - Have you stopped it?" Cas asked, ignoring Dean's question in the typical Angel manner.

"Why?" Dean asked looking from Cas to Uriel to me, I shrugged, letting Dean know that I had no clue what they were talking about.

"Dean, have you located the witch?" Castiel continued

"Yes, we've located the witch." Dean said slowly

"And is the witch dead?"

"No, but - We know who it is." Dean finished

"Apparently, the witch knows who you are, too." Cas said "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, Surely one or all of you would be dead."

"Do you know where the witch is now?" a different voice, Uriel, asked.

"We're working on it." Dean told the angels

"That's unfortunate." Cas said.

I sat up, looking from Dean and Sam to Cas and Uriel, "What do you care?"

"The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 seals." Cas explained, not even looking at me

"So this is about your buddy lucifer." Dean said as I stood up walking over to the boys, standing in between them

"Lucifer is no friend of ours." Uriel said, offended

"It's just an expression." I explained as Dean stepped a little bit closer to me in a protective gesture that had my insides churning.

"Lucifer cannot rise." Cas said narrowing his eyes at Dean and I, "The breaking of the seal must be prevented at all costs."

"Okay. Great." Dean said, ignoring the questioning glance Sam sent us "Well, now that you're here, why don't you tell us where the witch is? We'll gank her, and everybody goes home."

"We are not omniscient." Cas growled "This witch is very powerful. She's cloaked, even to our methods."

"Okay, well, we already know who she is." Sam said, finally joining the conversation "So, if we work together-"

"Enough of this." Uriel interrupted

"Who are you, and why should I care?" Dean snapped

"This is Uriel." Castiel explained, "He's what you might call… a specialist."

"Is that another word for complete asshole?" I questioned, Cas glared at me but I just shrugged

"What kind of a specialist?" Sam asked "What are you gonna do?"

"You - All of you, you need to leave this town immediately." Cas ordered

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because we're about to destroy it." Uriel explained, my eyes narrowed at the angels

"We're out of time." Cas explained, "This witch has to die. The seal must be saved."

"There are a thousand people here." Sam said earnestly, Cas nodded, of course he knew that, "And you're willing to kill them all?"

"This isn't the first time I've purified a city." Uriel pointed out

I scoffed, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, "By '_purify' _do you mean kill everyone in the city."

"Look, I understand this is regrettable." Cas said

"Regrettable? Dean scoffed

"We have to hold the line. Too many seals have broken already." Cas said, trying to argue his point.

"So you screwed the pooch on some seals, and now this town has to pay the price?" Dean asked turning to me, his look asking if they were serious. I watched the angels for a moment before nodding at Dean, they were serious.

"It's the lives of 1,000 against the lives of 6 billion." Cas explained, "There's a bigger picture here."

Right 'Cause, uh, you're bigger-picture kind of guys." Dean said sarcastically

"Lucifer cannot rise." Uriel said "He does, and hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?"

"We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone." I said, "Your seal won't be broken, and no one has to die."

"We're wasting time with these mud monkeys." Dean said after a moment of silence

"I'm sorry." Cas said, not sounding sorry at all, "But we have our orders."

"No, you can't do this." Sam argued, "You - You're angels. I mean, aren't you supposed to - You're supposed to show mercy."

"Says who?" Cas growled, "We have no choice."

"Of course you have a choice." Dean said, "I mean, come on, what, you've never - Never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers?"

"They wouldn't know a choice if it bit them in their righteous asses, Dean" I pointed out, causing Dean to snort

"Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith the plan is just." Cas said

"How can you even say that?" Dean asked, serious once more.

"Because it comes from heaven." Cas explained, "That makes it just."

"It must be nice to be so sure of yourselves." Dean said as it became my turn to snort

"Tell me something, Dean." Cas growled, "When your father gave you an order, didn't you obey?"

"Sorry, boys, it looks like the plans have changed." Dean said, ignoring Cas' question after an intense moment of staring.

"You think you can stop us?" Uriel asked

"No." Dean and I said at the same time (Seriously did these guys think we were idiots or?) I gestured for Dean to continue after we shared an exasperated look.

"But if you're gonna smite this whole town then you're gonna have to smite us with it because we are not leaving." Dean said and I nodded my agreement when Cas glanced at me "You went to the trouble of busting me out of hell. I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. You want to waste me? Go ahead. See how he digs that."

"I will drag you out of here myself." Cas threatened

"Yeah, but you'll have to kill me." Dean pointed out, looking slightly disappointed "Then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come 're gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch?"

"Sounds to me like you're compensating for something" I joked, Uriel turned to glare at me and I just grinned back innocently.

"We can do this." Dean said, "We will find that witch. We will stop the summoning."

"Castiel, I will not let these-" Uriel started, turning to face Cas

"Enough." Cas ordered, "I suggest you move quickly."

I grinned before going to grab my boots and follow Dean out to the impala, leaving the Angel's behind.

"Astronaut!" Dean growled, I turned to see the remnants of an egg dripping down the windshield of the Impala.

I couldn't help but laugh and naturally I earned myself a glare from Dean.

"What?" Sam asked, walking out of the motel room

"Nothing." Dean growled, stalking over to the impala, getting to work wiping the egg off of his precious car.

"I thought they'd be different." Sam said when we caught up to Dean.

"Who, the angels?" I asked

"Yeah." Was Sam's reply as he leaned against the Impala

"Well, I tried to tell you." Dean said, leaning next to Sam as I jumped onto the trunk of the car

"I just - I mean, I thought they'd be righteous." Sam said, waving his hands as if that would explain what he thought

"Well, they are righteous." Dean said

"That's kind of the problem." I added swinging my legs back and forth, "Of course, there's nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he's on a holy mission."

"But, I mean, this is god and heaven?" Sam asked, rolling the charred bone in his pocket "This is what I've been praying to?"

"Look, man, I know you're into the whole god thing and Jesus on a tortilla and stuff like that." Dean started, "But just because there's a couple of bad apples doesn't mean the whole barrel is rotten. I mean, for all we know, God hates these jerks. Don't give up on the stuff is all I'm saying."

"Babe Ruth was a dick, but baseball's still a beautiful game." I added, earning one of Dean's cheesy grins.

"Well, are you gonna figure out a way to find this witch, or are you just gonna sit there fingering your bone?"

"You know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this, guys?" Sam asked, glancing up at us.

"No." Dean said

"Yeah," I answered earning a look from them, "You think this is the first time I've dealt with a powerful witch? I was friggin possessed guys."

"Oh yeah," Dean said, like he'd forgotten.

"You seriously forgot?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "I'm a mess guys, like, I'm frickin afraid of the dark. But yeah, lets get back to the witch that's trying to raise Samhain,"

"Wait, so what does this mean?" Dean asked after a moment, turning to look back at Sam

"This means we make a stop," Sam said, opening the back door of the Impala and getting in.

"Okay, Mr. Cryptic," Dean said sarcastically, opening the passenger door then jogging around to the driver side.

Getting into the college wasn't that difficult to manage, not with three professional lockpicks on hand. Once we were in Dean led the way to the arts section of the place, I followed and Sam went after me. Breaking into the firing room was easy as well and soon enough we'd had the whole place searched and had found the stash of bone.

"So, Tracy used a kiln to char the bone?" Dean asked, "What's the big deal?"

"Dean, that hex bag turned up in our room not after we talked to Tracy after we talked to the teacher." Sam said

"No?" I said, setting the bone I'd been looking at back on the table, "Cas and Uriel showed up right after you guys left."

"What?" Sam asked

"I took a shower and when I got out Cas and Uriel were already there. That means the hex bag was there before that." I explained, "But the teacher is definitely in on this, no way in the world he didn't know. Tracy's definitely the one we should be worried about."

"Those are all from children." I added disgustedly, gesturing to the bones. "We need to leave, I found the teachers address on the way here."

"You're good." Dean said appreciatively as I led the way out to the impala,

"I know," I said sauntering to the Impala listening to the chuckles coming from Dean and Sam behind me.

The drive to the teachers house was short. Dean took the lead again as we went into the house, I was in the middle and Sam was again behind me. The house was bare of any niceties. There was a couch in the livingroom, the kitchen essentials, and the only door on the open floor plan was under the stairs. Dean threw the door open and we found that it led to a basement.

Sam took the lead, which in hindsight wasn't our best idea, he hit his head on a pipe, alerting the teacher to our presence.

In the center of the basement Tracy was tied up with the teacher, who had been walking circles around her, was now watching us. I grimaced, ducking behind Sam, as the teacher moved forward. Sam darted forward, his movements graceful despite his lanky figure. He drove his knife through the bastard before wiping it off and turning to help Tracy.

"Wait, Sam." I called, finally willing to step forward, "do you not remember the conversation that we had earlier?"

Sam stopped, "Oh yeah," He said, pulling the knife back out of his pants.

Tracy was crying. Sam hesitated and I groaned, pulling out my own knife and stalking over to them. Did a Winchester's seriously just hesitate in killing a witch?

Sam cut her down.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I yelled at Sam before suddenly everything went black

The next coherent thought I had was my mind telling me that I was being possessed again. I could see everything that Samhain was doing. This demon was one of the oldest one to possess me and I felt it. The age, everything he'd ever done. And I hurt. Every single part of me felt like it was on fire.

I thought this part of my life was over.

I was screaming. I could feel myself screaming. I could hear myself screaming. But there was not sound. I was being forced back, squashed, suffocated in my own body. I had no control over my body.

Suddenly the pain intensified. There was no sound anymore. I couldn't breathe, couldn't hear, couldn't think.

There was nothing.

When I came to Dean was watching me with concern. Sam was on the other side of the room, not looking at anything, blood was trickling down the side of his face. We were no longer in the basement of Don's house.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I growled when I was able to speak, repeating my earlier statement.

I stood up and stalked over to Sam, he flinched under my glare and the rage that seemed to roll off of me in waves. I couldn't believe that he had fucked up that bad.

"Did you seriously let the witch go? Was nothing I said worth even listening to? I fucking told you it was Tracy and you still let her go. What the hell man." My breath was coming in short gasps and I took a couple minutes to calm down as I waited for Sam's answer.

"How did you know she was the witch?" Sam asked quietly after a moment. He was unsure of whether or not that was a question he should ask but I decided to let it slide.

"A- It was freaking obvious, B- Do you want me to tell you what five years with demons in your body, riding it around like a fucking horse, does to you?" I growled, "do you know how I was able to survive that long?"

"Huh?" Sam asked

"Demon blood, Sam, five years of demon blood." I whispered harshly, "Even now I look at a demon and I'm still tempted, every single time. I spent four months in hiding to avoid that temptation, why do you think I'm addicted to holy water? It's the only reason I haven't fucking killed myself."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sam asked

"This demon is strong. And I know what you're thinking. It's not worth it. Don't use these abilities the blood gives you, don't drink the blood anymore. It will destroy you and everything you hold dear and its not fucking worth it. Ruby's blade will be enough."

Sam looked stunned, Dean look stunned.

I was starting to panic.

"Damnit." I muttered, feeling my knees grow weak. Dean was behind me and managed to catch me before I cracked my head on the cement floor.

I'd been possessed again. My body felt like I'd been dragged through hell. It felt like there was still the sticky residue of Samhain in my body, in my head. I glanced at Dean and he nodded, picking me up off the ground, carrying me out of the room, not even sparing Sam a backwards glance.

"I got the tattoo," I said as Dean sat me next to him on the front seat of the Impala, keeping his arm wrapped around my shoulders, "He shouldn't have been able to possess me."

"Devin," Dean said warily, "Tracy burned off the tattoo."

"Ugh," I groaned, glad that I couldn't feel the pain yet. I curled up into Dean as he drove away from the cemetery, "If Sam ignores me like that again I am not responsible for what happens to him." I warned Dean as we pulled up to the motel.

"Understandable," Dean grunted as he lifted me from the Impala.

In that moment I was more thankful for Dean Winchester than I had been thankful for anyone in my entire life.

Just as Dean sat me on the bed to look over my wounds Castiel showed up in the room.

"Let me guess." Dean said, not even glancing at the angel, focusing on cleaning a nasty cut on my arm, " You're here for the "I told you so?"

"No." Cas grunted

"Well, good,' cause I'm really not that interested." Dean said as I hissed at the pain.

"I am not here to judge you, Dean." Cas said

"Then why are you here?" I asked, glancing (glaring) at Cas over Dean's shoulder

"Our orders-"

"Yeah, you know, I've had about enough of these orders of yours." Dean said, finally turning to look at Cas, consequently jerking at my arm. I hissed as the black spots began to swim in front of my vision

"Shit," Dean said, letting go of my arm and turning back to me. The sudden pain I felt had me gasping on the bed. My body started to shake and

"Cas," I growled, "If you don't heal me in the next five seconds I will ruin everything you've ever worked for."

"Our orders were not to stop the summoning of samhain." Cas explained walking over to me "They were to do whatever you told us to do."

He placed his hand in my forehead and the sudden relief from pain brought tears to my eyes.

"Your orders were to follow my orders?" Dean asked

"It was a test to see how you would perform under battlefield conditions, you might say." Cas explained

"It was a witch not the tet offensive." I said, standing up and twisting my torso around to work out the kinks that had formed

"So, I, uh, failed your test, huh?" Dean asked, glancing unsurely at me, "I get you know what? If you were to waive that - That magic time-traveling wand of yours and we had to do it all over again, I'd make the same call 'cause, see, I don't know what's gonna happen when these seals are broken. Hell, I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But what I do know is is that this here - These kids, the swings, the trees, all of it - Is still here because of my brother and Devin and me."

"You misunderstand me, Dean. I'm not like you think. I was praying that you would choose to save the town." Cas said

"You were?" Dean asked glancing at me and glaring at the smirk that was inevitably on my face

"These people - They're all my father's creations." Cas explained "They're works of art.

And yet even though you stopped samhain, the seal was broken, and we are one step closer to hell on earth for all creation. And that's not an expression, Dean. It's literal. You of all people should appreciate what that means."

There was a pause in his speech as Cas regarded Dean and I

"I'll tell you something If you promise not to tell another soul." Cas said

"Okay." Dean and I replied at the same time

"I'm not, uh a hammer, as you say." Cas started, "I have questions. I I have doubts. I don't know what is right and what is wrong anymore and whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months, You will he more decisions to make. I don't envy the weight that's on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don't."

Cas disappeared.

"Well that was a sobering thought." Dean said turning away from where the angel had been standing and facing me, "You okay?"

"Physically? Yeah," I said with a slightly strained smile, "Emotionally? enraged."

"You want holy water?" Dean asked, pulling some out from the fridge as Adrasteia and Stygian both appeared on the bed making Dean and I jump.

"I thought something was missing," I said taking the holy water from Dean thankfully, watching as Adrasteia and Stygian walked over to Dean, wrapping themselves around his legs, Stygian purring at Adra panting. "You know, from the way my animals treat you, you'd think that you were the one who bought their food, not me."

"I might have… um… been sneaking them snacks." Dean said sheepishly, kneeling down to pet the animals.

I grinned, "Dean Winchester, I could kiss you right now." I said, not really thinking about what it was that I was saying.

Dean's head snapped up, watching me closely before breaking out into a cheesy grin, like he'd just won some big prize.

"Then do it."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey look at this, an actual chapter :)  
><strong>**Sorry to those of you who I disappointed with the addition of the prologue instead of an actual chapter, I've been super busy with AP classes and scholarships. On the bright side I got into college. I'll be busy until April 4th, then I'll have the next Chapter for you sometime that week. **

**Enjoy :)**


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